Open Wide Here Comes Original Sin
by stankface
Summary: Sequel to Turn Off the Dark. During GOF. Adhara has to adjust to the many changes in her life: her father, best friends, romance, more danger and let's not forget puberty. INSPIRED BY 150 THINGS I'M NOT ALLOWED TO DO AT HOGWARTS. Part 2/6
1. Adhara Means Virgin

**Disclaimer: I don't own Harry Potter, our fandom does. And we will keep him alive in our hearts forever.**

**A/N: Sequel finally here! I've never done one before. I'm so fucking proud. I hope you enjoy!**

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><p>As exhausted as I was, I knew I had to pack for the Weasleys' tomorrow. Most of my clothes were new, me having had an unexpected growth spurt over the summer.<p>

Mrs. Weasley had invited me to the Quidditch World Cup, seeing as Arthur had access to tickets and I was a friend of Ron's. Or at least I told myself that. But if it were true, he would have invited me himself.

Whether he liked me or not, being an avid Quidditch fan, I was sure to have fun.

But that didn't stop me from being torn. Torn from having to leave something very important to me behind. Something I had grown very attached to over a very short period of time. Two months to be exact.

"Will Oliver be there?" I jumped as he snickered in the doorway. I gave a fake glare and composed myself as he entered.

"How do you-"

"Lupin's still my mate and your godfather, you know." I sighed before stuffing my fuzzy blanket in my bag.

As much as I loved him, I thought I could've dodged having this kind of talk with him.

"Yes, Oliver will be there." I refrained from looking him in the eye as I continued packing. "Quidditch is his life."

That made me think back to how exactly we became a couple.

_He was standing outside of the Hospital Wing with a really goofy grin on his face. Not wanting to be interrogated by my equally confused friends, I led him… anywhere, as long as it was away from them. _

_But what I didn't realize was that I wasn't the one doing the leading. _

"_I should've guessed. You don't seem to be a Madam Puddifoot's kind of guy." He had brought me to the Quidditch Pitch even though today was the last Hogsmeade trip of the year. _

"_No, I feel more comfortable oan the Pitch." We had walked to the equipment shed where all the brooms, quaffles etc. were held. I saw my Firebolt in the corner, I had forgotten that I left it there after a few laps with Harry._

_Even though it was bright outside, the shed was really dark. But because of its age, some light was seeping through at odd angles with an orange tint to it. "Comfortable for what?" _

_He blinked a few times before answering me. "For this." He leaned down, pressing his lips against mine and I found myself struggling so hard not to smile like an idiot after he pulled away. _

_This was no prank. He was doing it because he actually wanted to. I could tell by the slight rose color to his cheeks and the bobbing of his Adam's apple. _

"_I wis looking for you all day yesterday 'n' rumor hud it that you wur in th' 'ospital Wing. I didn't want to seem lik' too much of a bother, so in the morning, I asked Madam Pomfrey if you were a'richt 'n' when you wid be released. I 'adn't taken intae consideration if you'd eaten or even cleaned up." Well, I was hungry and I was sure that a mixture of my father and Ron's blood was on my robes. _

"_All I knew was that I had to know you were a'richt." I was speechless, never really having someone worry about me before. "Especially after what happened oan th' stairwell." _

_I laughed at how serious he sounded about our kiss before saying, "I'm fine, Oliver. A bit shaken up, but I'm fine." I put my hand on his arm to reassure him before asking, "Other than needing courage to kiss me again, was there any other reason you brought me here?" _

_I expected him to say something harmful to my self esteem, about privacy or not wanting to be seen with me. "I know you lik' Quidditch, so I was going to see if you were up for a little one on one, but now I see how daft that wid be." It was daft, but it's not every day that the boy of your dreams asks you to play your favorite sport with you._

_So, I fought back my hunger and my feminine desire to get clean and accepted his offer. "I'm up for a quick round. That way, you can smuggle me up to the Tower before everyone comes back from Hogsmeade." He smiled at me and grabbed our respective broomsticks from the shed._

He nodded, trying to maintain a poker face, but I could see right through it. I could just feel him about to utter something I wasn't going to agree with.

"Harry's fond of Quidditch too?" I smirked, shaking my head as I dug through my vanity. He stated it as a question in an attempt to appear innocent. He very much knew the answer to that question.

"Well, he's _my_ mate and _your_ godson, which makes him my brother." I giggled, using his words against him.

"It's just-" As soon as he took a seat on my bed, I interrupted him. "You and James were the closest of best friends and planned on raising your children together in hopes that we would fall in love simply through the process of osmosis."

I could tell that he was still running that through his head as he answered me. "Well, we didn't just hope. I remember, we actually kept our notes on love potions to avoid this very scenario."

I shook my head, hoping he was joking. "And ruin what we have now? Never." I eyed my stack of hoodies, wondering how I was going to fit all of them in as well. "Besides, now that I'm a Black, I believe I have every right to be interested in keeping the bloodline pure."

By his grin, I was sure he caught onto my joke. And that was confirmed by him pulling me down next to him and tucking my head in the crook of his neck.

"I want you to have fun, Addy." I nodded and wrapped my arms around his small frame. He smelled like the outside. "Just not too much fun. I don't want you stealing the microphone and shouting anything about saving a broomstick."

I pulled away from him, sort of upset that he ruined the moment. I still can't believe he was there to hear me say that and now, he was never going to let me live it down.

"Don't forget that Adhara means virgin, ok." I jumped up from the bed, not wanting to believe that he actually just said that.

"Dad!"


	2. Both

**Disclaimer:** I only own Adhara Vulpecula **Black**

**A/N: Seeing the Deathly Hallows Part 2 pretty much forced me to post this. I'm so happy to have finally finished a story. I won't lie to you though, this one starts off a little slow. But so does the book. I guess now that Adhara knows who she is, she finds that as an excuse to be naughty. She pulls more pranks than ever. So there'll be a lot more of the 150 Things I'm Not Allowed To Do In Hogwarts in this one. I just pray that you won't get annoyed with her immaturity. She starts hanging out with the twins more and her old friend from Beauxbatons. Even though she'll always be one of the boys, she gets more girly in this one. Favoring Ginny and Hermione more than ever. That doesn't mean that she's forgotten about Harry though. She's here to back him up during the most dangerous thing he's done in his life so far.**

**She gets more unwanted attention for two reasons. 1) The entire Wizarding World is now aware of her true identity and 2) She's changed alot... physically. Her heart gets really confused in this one, but as they say "It's better to have loved and loss than never to have loved at all." But most importantly, even though Adhara's this social butterfly whose life is finally in place, she's hiding a really big secret from her best friends and she's just not quite sure how to tell them because there are more important things happening at school.**

It had been the best summer of my life so far.

Well despite the fact that I spent the beginning of it with my aunt, her husband and their six children, all of which, but one, were younger than me and found my nose piercing to be the most interesting thing on the planet.

I spent most of that week rereading my DADA notes and missing Lupin more than my own boyfriend, which I had no remorse for. If anything, I should be angry at Oliver for wooing me enough to miss Lupin's spontaneous departure.

I could've run away, but I didn't want to be rude and I didn't have any muggle money to take the bus with. Besides, if I spent time with them now, there was no way in hell my mum could guilt trip me into spending Christmas with them again like she did last year.

After a birthday breakfast that they pretty much forced me to dress up nicely for, they saw me off to catch the number 8 which I found completely unnecessary. I was turning 14 today and I had been taking the subway alone since I was seven.

Heading up to the streets, I realized I was across the street from the Ministry hoping to get at least an explanation from my mother, but she only shoves some old parchment and a slim box in my arms before sending me home via public transport.

Upset and irritated after an hour bus ride to Camden, I finally made it home where I pushed my trunk to the ground as soon as I was inside.

The trunk made a loud thud against the hardwood floor, but it did not drown out a sort of scuffling from the back yard.

I walked into the dining room and peeked through the blinds for a bit. Nothing seemed suspicious to me, so I withdrew my fingers and turned around to head into the kitchen.

I felt the familiar touch of a human body and screamed. Everything in my hands had gone to the floor, including the box, the bundle of parchment and even my wand.

Surely I looked like a fool. Hands held up, palms out in surrender and eyes nearly shut with my face locked in a wince.

He paid me no mind, looking down to see the box now open and two wands at our feet.

"I see that you retrieved my wand. Quite an impressive feat, I must say. Rumor has it that the wands of prisoners are unattainable, and upon release, it takes **loads** of paperwork for them to see the light of day. Depending on the crime, a Wizard's wand can be destroyed. Since I didn't even get a fair trial, I was sure that I was one of those wizards."

He bent down to pick it up and I shook my head, preparing to deny credit for reuniting the two. "I- I-" "But maybe if you're that uncomfortable, I shouldn't be touching it." He handed me my wand and I took it, once again shaking my head.

"Dad…" I picked up his wand and the papers, handing him the former.

"I'm not uncomfortable. You just frightened me is all." He gave me a bittersweet half smile.

"You weren't expecting me to keep my promise."

I neither confirmed nor denied it.

"You're on the run. Isn't this an obvious place for the Ministry to look?" He shook his head.

"Not really." I blinked, waiting for him to continue. "The Ministry is without a doubt trying to link you to me, but they only keep tabs on the Floo System, which you haven't been travelling through. You could be in Madagascar and they would have no idea." I tilted my head, catching a flaw in his logic.

"I just saw Mum in public today, right outside the Ministry. There were tons of workers outside, probably going for lunch or something." He shook his head once more, swaying his curly locks.

"Your mother has always been superb with the Obliviate spell. But I don't think she'll have to resort to it." He eyed my mature sense of dress and then I understood.

"Camouflage." My eyebrows rose at how well orchestrated this plan turned out to be.

"As for me taking cover here, the Ministry believes your mother and I to be on very severed terms."

"Well..." I started. "Are you?" He smirked and shook his head.

"Never better, Tilda and I." I sighed in relief before he went on. "It wasn't easy though. I broke in here, the very night I left you, tied up the bird in the backyard to a tree- I assume that's what you were looking out the window for-" I nodded, not having a single worry. Sure, our backyard was small, but our closest neighbor lived on the very next block. Something I took advantage of when I wanted to play loud music.

"And apparently she was just getting home from work and like a _fool_; I greeted her with a 'Hello' as if it were of an everyday norm... You remember how Remus thought me guilty…" I nodded. "Well your mother had no clue either, and she reacted much worse than Harry even." Images of Harry pouncing on him after I used that floorboard to thump him on the back of his head flew through my mind.

"So we had a nice little duel in the living room in which I swear she tried to use the Cruciatus Curse." My jaw dropped at that.

My mother… a law breaker.

"It wasn't until I dropped my wand and surrendered, that she took me seriously. She said she could see it in my eyes that I was innocent." He paused, smiling to himself. "Your mother always had good moral judgment."

I nodded, more so to myself than to agree with him. That woman could always tell when I was lying. It was rather unnerving when I was younger, now I don't even bother to do it to her because she'll know right away.

"You look just like her, you know." I stopped him from going on, having the need to ask a very important question.

"Then how come it wasn't until Pettigrew pointed it out, that you realized who I was?"

He answered it without skipping a beat. "Because word was that your mother enrolled you in Beauxbatons, so that you wouldn't face ridicule in a school where some knew that you were a Black." He did have a point, and I guess 12 years is enough for talk about Sirius Black's missing daughter to die down in the United Kingdom, even after he broke out of jail.

Silence fell between us and suddenly for no reason, I felt like crying and his next words weren't making me feel any better.

"In twelve years, I lost sight of many things in that cell, but returning to you was never one of them." I busied myself with putting the parchment on the marble counter, my eyes shifting to the fridge, blinking profusely, to prevent a single tear from falling.

"I wondered what you looked like, how your voice sounded, if your hair was still as curly, whether you preferred painting your toenails or playing Quidditch." I cursed myself for letting him see me cry. I believe it was because it was just hitting me that this was reality and my feet were safely down on earth.

"Both." I said, looking him in the eye after wiping my face free of tears.

Together we broke into laughter and I took the time to look him over.

He was wearing a blazer with really dapper pants, vest and shirt to match. His shoes were perfectly buffed and his smile flawlessly white. His hair looked to be healthy and soft. His skin was more of a flesh tone and his eyes were as silver as mine.

"Happy Birthday, Adhara." I'm not sure if that was an invitation to hug him, but I did it anyway.

He smelled like cologne and the house. It sounded strange, but I could make out the hardwood floor, the propane stove, the fireplace, the frequently frebreezed furniture and a lot of laundry detergent. And under **all** of that was something I had smelled only once before and would never forget.

A scent that was entirely him.

I peeked over his shoulder to the aged papers that held the watermark of the Ministry of Magic. All of them looked to have stamps across their ruddy faces, but one jutted out of the side more so than the others and all I could make out from the exposed corner was

'-**tificate of Birth**.

-**hara Black**.'

Maybe I could believe my mum dated a Marauder after all.

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><p>And dad had been home ever since. Well… sort of.<p>

"But why?" He sighed as we sat together in my sacred rocking chair. Well, it was more like he forced his way into the small spot next to me to get some final father/daughtering in before I left. "Because it's your name."

I tried to look upset, but it was hard when I was actually content with just swaying back and forth. "That's not **fair**. What about a tiger? I love Tigers."

Our silver eyes met before he leaned forward to kiss my forehead. "That's not how it works."

Our conversation was interrupted by Mum nearly stomping down the steps with her arms crossed. "Are you sure you won't be late?"

Dad being home hadn't really improved our relationship. If anything, it made it worse.

They didn't see much of each other and when they did, I was always there.

I understand that he's the love of her life, but she didn't have to damn near pry me away from him, shove my trunk in the grasp of one hand and a ton of floo powder in the other.

She looked at me expectantly before I asked, "Where do the Weasleys live again?"

"The burrow." She muttered through gritted teeth.

I forced a smile to her before nodding to dad and shouting, "To the Burrow!"

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><p>No Hugs Peach: Yes, he really ships HarryAdhara, but it's not going to happen. EVER.

c7a7t7: Thank you so much! That means a lot to me.

smp11196: Did I really make him that romantic? *Goes back and reads the first chapter*

Anon: I am trying to spread this one out and post one every weekend, but who knows. The chapters might become more frequent like I did with the last one. Posting a chapter once every four days. And thank you. The seventh commandment of Harry Potter fandom is to **NEVER** write a bad fanfiction. (How the hell did you read the last one in a day? It took me forever to reread it)

Cal26lum: This is my fav review ever. No need to beg, the new chapter is here as you can very well see. (And the next two are already typed up so...)


	3. Uhh, It's Hereditary

**Disclaimer: Anyone who thinks that I own Harry Potter is on drugs. **

**A/N: A tad uneventful, not gonna lie.**

"Welcome, my dear, welcome!" Mrs. Weasley greeted after my very first floo experience. I really lost my footing, but luckily she hugged me before I could hit the ground.

"Adhara, what happened to your hair?" I sighed and pulled my locks from Ginny's gentle fingers. She was referring to the hideous streak of white in the front I had gained over the summer that refused to be dyed or charmed black.

I honestly don't know how it happened. I had so much fun with dad out west, there hadn't been much stress.

I must have gotten it from joining dad on the run which wasn't fair because he was much older than me and he didn't have a single strand of grey or white.

Mum didn't do much protesting, not after dad promised to keep me safe. Turns out, she wasn't worried about him protecting me, but the amount of trouble I would let myself get into.

Somehow, with our egos still intact, Dad and I travelled to the Americas. Jamaica first of course.

That's where we received our first letter from Harry since my birthday. He told us that he informed the Dursleys that dad was his murderous godfather and I was the daughter and his mate which was awesome because it pretty much got them to do anything he wanted.

In return, we sent off birds of paradise to give him our letters which dad let me pick out.

When we went to Mexico, I made sure to send candies with the letter and when we got to New York, we were lucky that it was around Harry's birthday.

I knew that the Dursleys didn't buy him clothes, and if so, not often. So with the help of dad's muggle bank account that mom made him get when they were dating, I got to buy Harry seven outfits and two pairs of shoes.

I looked to Ginny after my mental departure and gave a small smile. "Uhh, it's hereditary. My grandmum says she can't even remember when she ever had a full head of black hair, so it was bound to happen eventually."

I felt kind of bad lying to Ginny, but it's not like I could tell her. Besides, she'd never see my grandmum.

"It doesn't look bad does it?" She shook her head before admiring the discoloration. "No, I rather like it."

"Well, you're just in time! We were about to floo to the Dursley's to get Harry right now. Would you like to join us?" asked

"Absolutely." I accepted as he entered the fireplace.

"Thanks a lot, Adhara. You're making us late. I told Harry that we'd be there sooner." I rolled my eyes and grabbed some floo powder off the mantle and stepped into the fireplace. That would be the first thing he'd say to me in months.

"How'd you do that? By fellytone?" Before shouting 'Dursleys' like Mr. Weasley and the twins before me, I saw him clench his jaw and turn as red as his hair.

I know I should stop taunting him, but there were just so many buttons to press. Not to mention I hadn't done it in such a long time.

My smile disappeared upon my arrival to a dark place where I was being squished next to the three other Weasleys. I was not ok with this.

"OUCH! Adhara, no there's no room, go back quickly and tell Ron-" What in Merlin's name was going on?

"Maybe Harry can hear us, Dad- Maybe he'll be able to let us out-" We knocked on the wood while Mr. Weasley asked, "Harry? Harry, can you hear us?"

I heard whispering and a whimper as I stifled a giggle. "Yes, Mr. Weasley, The Dursleys are fully aware, it's just… the fireplace has been blocked up. You won't be able to get through there."

"Damn!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley. "What on earth did they want to block up the fireplace for?"

"They've got an electric fire." I heard Harry say.

"Really?" Mr. Weasley asked, no longer angry. "Eclectic, you say? With a plug? Gracious, I must see that… let's think… ouch, Ron!" I sighed at the new addition.

"What are we doing here? Has something gone wrong? Ouch! Adhara-" I elbowed him for trying to squeeze his way between me and the twins.

"Oh no, Ron," growled Fred. "No this is exactly where we wanted to end up." I giggled at his sarcasm and George joined in at poking fun at his younger brother. "Yeah, we're having the time of our lives here."

"Boys, boys… I'm trying to think what to do… Yes… only way… Stand back, Harry." Mr. Weasley pulled out his wand and we all stepped back as far as we could before he blasted the planks off the fireplace.

In a flash, we all fell forward on top of the loose rubble. I heard a scream before Fred helped me on my feet.

"That's better." said Mr. Weasley brushing off his vibrantly green robes.

I looked around to see a quaint little living room that had to be decorated by someone with a stick up their arse.

I will admit, my house was quite bare, but at least my mum wasn't trying to be someone she wasn't by adorning the living room with paintings of flowers, expensive furniture and china.

"Ah- you must be Harry's aunt and uncle!" I looked to the people Mr. Weasley was addressing and I was downright disgusted.

Not that weight determines a persons worth, but this man was the size of a whale and his wife, a toothpick with a pinched face.

As shocked as I was by their appearance, I became even more so when they didn't shake the Mr. Weasley's hand.

"Er- yes- sorry about that." He withdrew his outstretched hand, we kids suffering in the awkwardness produced by the Dursley's.

"It's all my fault. It just didn't occur to me that we wouldn't be able to get out at the other end. I had your fireplace connected to the Floo Network, you see- just for an afternoon, you know, so we could get Harry. Muggle fireplaces aren't supposed to be connected, strictly speaking- but I've got a useful contact at Floo Regulation Panel and he fixed it for me. I can put it right in a jiffy, though, don't worry. I'll light a fire to send the kids back and then I can repair your fireplace before I Disapparate." I looked away from the unresponsive muggles and saw my brother in the doorway.

I walked past the Dursley's and they gasped as I got near them and I didn't hear them release their breath until I was in Harry's embrace.

"Hello, Harry!" said Mr. Weasley before I got the chance. "Got your trunk ready?" I released him and he nodded to Mr. Weasley, our grins matching. "It's upstairs."

"We'll get it." Offered Fred as he and George rushed up the stairs.

Harry and I walked over to the remaining Weasleys as Mr. Weasley tried to make conversation. "Well… very- erm- very nice place you've got here."

Harry had never told me about his aunt and uncle being mute, so I tried to see what was wrong by their faces. By the purple color and twisted expressions, I couldn't tell if they were angry or frightened.

Mr. Weasley stared at the TV and VCR before asking, "They run off eckeltricity do they?" and answered as well. "Ah yes, I can see the plugs, I collect plugs… and batteries. My wife thinks I'm mad, but there you are."

I stopped listening to Mr. Weasley's one sided conversation to focus on the humongous boy who ran into the room grabbing his arse with both hands. "Ah, this is your cousin, is it, Harry?" He nodded and said plainly, "Yes, that's Dudley."

On either side of me, Ron and Harry looked to be containing their laughter and I shook my head at their immaturity.

"Having a good holiday, Dudley?" The boy whimpered at the eldest Weasley's good manners and clenched his rear harder.

What was wrong with this gluttonous adolescent?

Breaking the silence, my heroes Fred and George entered the room with Harry's trunk and shared a mischievous grin after spotting Dudley in the corner.

Mr. Weasley rolled up his sleeves and took out his wand at their arrival, obviously wanting to get the hell out of here. "Ah, right, better get cracking then."

Discreetly at the other end of the room, I snatched up a very nice crystal set of shot glasses from the mantle piece that seemed to be for decoration.

I jumped back as Mr. Weasley set the fireplace ablaze. "_Incendio_!"

I tried to play it cool as I tucked the wooden case in my messenger bag, but Harry spotted me, shaking his head as Mr. Weasley took out the bag of floo powder.

"Off you go then, Fred," he ordered.

"Coming." I looked past Fred to see if the Dursleys had noticed, but they were now pressed against the wall, so I took it as a no.

"Oh no- hang on-" A bag of candy fell out of Fred's pocket and spilled all over the floor. He scrambled to pick them up and waved to the petrified family before running to the fireplace and shouting, "the burrow!"

The aunt gasped at Fred's disappearance and Mr. Weasley held the small bag out to the other twin. "Right then, George, you and the trunk."

Harry was kind enough to help him carry it into the flames before he disappeared as well. "Ron, you next."

"See you." Ron said with a tone of cheer before being engulfed in the green flames as well.

I stood there as Mr. Weasley looked at me expectantly. "Adhara." He held the bag out to me and I quickly grabbed some powder, not sure of where my mind had went.

"Oh, yes- sorry." I stepped into the fire before turning to the Dursley's. "You know, I live not too far from here. Maybe I could come and visit Harry next summer."

I smirked darkly before throwing the silver powder down.

"The burrow."

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><p><strong>Last short chapter, I promise. Like I said in the last chapter, this story starts off slow. But from the next chapter on, it'll fall into its proper pace.<strong>

**I solemly swear...**

**welcometonarnia: Well you've got some patience. And thanks for the TWO reviews. I didn't think that was possible...**


	4. Dumb and Funny Smelling

**Disclaimer: The QUEEN owns Harry Potter.**

**A/N: Happy fucking Golden Birthday to the Boy Who Lived and Happy Equally Important Birthday to Ms. Jo herself. And Happy Belated Birthday to Neville the BAMF**

I giggled to myself upon my second arrival to the Weasley home for I was sure the Dursley's needed therapy after the simple hell we gave them.

I looked around the place, not really having admired it before. It had a simple atmosphere to it and nothing seemed to be store bought. Every little detail from the earthy scent to the cramped furniture made me feel welcome which was a relief compared to the tense vibe the Dursleys' had.

Fred and George ran into the living room only to stare at me expectantly and I stared right back before rolling my eyes and wandering into what I hoped was the kitchen.

Ron was sitting at the table which was more than enough to make me want to turn around and leave until I noticed he wasn't alone. There were two other redheads seated as well and I could tell they were older by the way they looked at Ron proudly.

"You must be the notorious Adhara Elliot." said the one with broad shoulders. He had so many freckles, you could barely see the pink flesh underneath. Patches of skin were shiny as if burnt and his hair was short and uneven, definitely not cut by scissors.

His arms were large and muscular, covered with scars and shiny skin. Connected to them were of course his hands, one of which was being held out to me. I took it and tried not to make it obvious that I found him delectable. But it was hard because his hand was rough and nearly engulfed mine in the shake. He was **perfect**.

"Yes. I'm sure at least **Ginny** has told you all about me." He raised a brow at that and let go of my hand slowly, eyes lingering on my face before he smiled.

"I'm Charlie… Weasley." He added the last part as if it weren't obvious.

The other man stood up to greet me and was taller than the previous one. He was just as gorgeous as the other, if not more. His hair was long and held back in a ponytail. My heart started thumping harder when I saw the fang earring hanging from his left lobe. He was wearing a blazer that just screamed Surrey.

"Bill." I nodded and took his outstretched hand.

His voice was smooth and charismatic as if his vocal chords were made of silk. I chose not to say anything due to the fear or sounding like an idiot. I let go of his hand and my eyes quickly flickered down to his boots that were unmistakingly made from dragonhide. How much sexier could he get?

"How many of there are you?" He laughed at my question and the sound of it let loose the butterflies I didn't know I was harvesting in my stomach and I had to calm myself by remembering that I had a boyfriend.

Harry walked in with the twins behind him, saving me from possible embarrassment. "How're you doing, Harry?" Charlie asked, him and Bill shaking his hand.

Before he could utter a word, Mr. Weasley appeared, making a loud popping noise in his wake.

I jumped at the sound, but was much more frightened at how pissed he looked.

"That **wasn't funny**, Fred!" He shouted at his son before going on to elaborate. "What on earth did you give that Muggle boy?" Fred shrugged innocently, but the grin on his face said otherwise.

"I didn't give him anything. I just dropped it… It was his fault he went and ate it, I never told him to."

"You dropped it on purpose! You knew he'd eat it, you knew he was on a diet-" "How big did his tongue get?" George asked, cutting his father off.

"It was four feet long before his parents would let me shrink it!" Everyone including myself, laughed at the imagery. "It **isn't funny**!" repeated Mr. Weasley with much force. "That sort of behavior undermines Wizard-Muggle relations! I spend half my life campaigning against the mistreatment of muggles, and my own sons-" "We didn't give it to him because he's a muggle!" Fred began allowing his twin to finish. "No, we gave it to him because he's a great bullying git. Isn't he, Harry?"

"Yeah, he is, Mr. Weasley." Harry admitted.

If I had known that, I would've done much worse than intimidate and steal.

"That's not the point!" screamed Mr. Weasley. "You wait until I tell your mother-" "Tell me what?"

Involuntarily, my spine straightened at the tone of her voice. "Oh, hello, Harry, dear." she stated sweetly before sounding angry again. "Tell me what, Arthur?" He stared at her for a while, neither of them saying a thing until after Hermione and Ginny appeared in the doorway. "Tell me **what**, Arthur?" she spat the third word, placing her dainty hands on her wide hips.

I clenched the strap on my bag, remembering what was inside and what would happen if she found out.

"It's nothing, Molly." Mr. Weasley mumbled. "Fred and George just- but I've had words with them-" "What have they done this time?" she sternly prodded, not letting it go. "If it's got anything to do with Weasley's Wizard Wheezes-"

"Why don't you show Harry where he's sleeping, Ron?" interrupted Hermione, waving at me in the process.

"He knows where he's sleeping." Ron replied, annoyed by her bossy instruction. "In my room, he slept there last-" "Well then, we can show Adhara hers." She implied through clenched teeth.

"Oh, right." Harry placed a hand on my shoulder, leading me out of the kitchen.

"No- I-" Ron cut me off, using both hands to push me out into the hallway and out of sight of his gorgeous brothers.

"Yeah, we'll come too." I heard one of the twins say. "**You stay where you are**!" demanded Mrs. Weasley as the five of us ran up the uneven staircase.

* * *

><p>Ron was still pushing me up the stairs as if he were afraid I'd actually go back down into that deathtrap. "Let go of me, Ronald, before I punch you in the face." I barked from over my shoulder.<p>

He let me go as if I had burned him with my words, but actually had the nerve to say something back.

"I wouldn't have to push you if I was sure you wouldn't go back down to snog my older brother!" I stopped on the stairs, causing him and the others to crash into me.

I turned slowly, setting my hands on the wooden railings and peering down at him. "Oliver and I are nearing our third month, I'll have you know."

"Congratulations." Ginny said honestly and I mouthed 'thank you' before smiling.

"Oh, shut it." Ron said to his sister before turning back to me.

"Besides, you're just upset that now that I've met your entire family, I've got a new insult for you other than dumb and _funny_ smelling." He rolled his eyes, trying not to appear effected by my words.

"What?" He sounded defeated and I let go of the rickety banister and stepped down onto the stair he was on, causing him to step back.

"**Ugly**."

That one simple word flushed his face and I swear he was going to hit me before Harry pulled me away, continuing our journey up the stairs.

* * *

><p>I thought I'd feel better after calling him that, but I just felt guilty and immature for letting him get to me.<p>

It was a while before anyone said anything and the creaking of the stairs was getting on my nerves. "What are Weasley's Wizard Wheezes?" Harry asked awkwardly to the still peeved Ron.

"Mum found this stack of order forms when she was cleaning Fred and Georges room." he mumbled before going on. "Great long price lists for stuff they've invented. Joke stuff, you know. Fake wands and trick sweets, loads of stuff. It was brilliant, I never knew they'd been inventing all that…" Knowing Ron, I was sure that on any other occasion, he would've sounded more enthusiastic which made me feel bad. I didn't mean to hurt him, I just wanted him off my back… literally.

"We've been hearing explosions out of their room for ages, but we never thought they were actually making things." added Ginny. "We thought they just liked the noise."

"Only most of the stuff- well, all of it, really- was a bit dangerous. And, you know, they were planning to sell it at Hogwarts to make some money and Mum went mad at them. Told them they weren't allowed to make any more of it, and burned all the order forms… She's furious at them anyway. They didn't get as many O.W.L.S. as she expected." The small amount of joy in his tone made me feel less guilty.

"And then there was this big row because Mum wants them to go into the Ministry of Magic like Dad, and they told her all they want to do is open a joke shop." I looked from Ginny to a door on the right that opened to reveal my annoying Head Boy from last year, wearing horn rimmed glasses.

"Hi Percy." said Harry as we all halted to a stop.

"Oh hello, Harry, Adhara." He nodded to us both before setting his sights on his siblings. "I was wondering who was making all the noise. I'm trying to work in here, you know- I've got a report to finish for the office- and it's rather difficult to concentrate when people keep thundering up and down the stairs."

"We're not thundering." Ron snapped and my insecure side half expected him to add, 'Well, maybe Adhara was.'

Dad and I had been on the run all summer, so whenever we stopped to eat, we ate… a lot. And I was very insecure that it had all went to my hips and thighs.

"We're walking. Sorry if we've disturbed the top secret working of the Ministry of Magic."

"What are you working on?" asked Harry. "A report for the Department of International Cooperation." Percy gloated, despite his brother's put down. "We're trying to standardize cauldron thickness. Some of these foreign imports are just a shade too thin- leakages have been increasing at a rate of almost three percent a year-" "That'll change the world, that report will." Ron teased. "Front page of the _Daily Prophet_, I expect, cauldron leaks."

Percy remained pompous, not letting his little brother under his skin. "You might sneer, Ron, but unless some sort of international law is imposed, we might well find the market flooded with flimsy, shallow-bottomed products that seriously endanger-" "Yeah, yeah, all right." Ron pushed his way to the front and kept climbing the stairs, not wanting to hear it anymore.

Percy slammed the door and we followed Ron, wincing as we heard the shouting from the kitchen below.

* * *

><p>After about a thousand steps, we had made it to the last room on the top landing.<p>

It had posters of the decent Quidditch team, the Chudley Cannons. There was a fish tank in the window with a huge frog in it and there was a cage in the corner with the miniature owl my dad had given him.

It seemed energetic, so much so that it was rattling its cage as it fluttered around tweeting.

"Shut **up**, Pig."

There were four beds that we had to maneuver around to get in. "Fred and George are in here with us, because Bill and Charlie are in their room. Percy gets to keep his room all to himself because he's got to work." I sat down on one of the beds which ended up being stiff. That meant mine would most likely be the same. I couldn't complain though, dad and I slept in a cave for four days, just last week.

"Er- why are you calling that owl, Pig?" Harry asked him.

"Because he's being stupid." insulted Ginny. "It's proper name is Pigwidgeon."

"Yeah, and that's not a stupid name at all. Ginny named him. She reckons it's sweet. And I tried to change it, but it was too late, he won't respond to anything else. So now he's Pig. I've got to keep him here because he annoys Errol and Hermes. He annoys me too, come to that." He looked pointedly at me after he said it, but Harry changed the topic right away.

"Where's Crookshanks?" "Out in the garden, I expect." Hermione answered. "He likes chasing gnomes. He's never seen any before."

Harry sat down next to me on the bed, continuing to make small talk. "Percy's enjoying work then?"

"Enjoying it? I don't reckon he'd come home if dad didn't make him. He's obsessed. Just don't get him on the subject of his boss. 'According to Mr. Crouch… as I was saying to Mr. Crouch… Mr. Crouch is of the opinion… Mr. Crouch was telling me…' They'll be announcing their engagement any day now." I was about to laugh, but instead chose to comment on my brother's lengthy hair.

I reached out to touch it and he just smiled at me. "What is going on here?" He swatted my hand away and gestured to my own. "I could say the same for you." I rolled my eyes and ran my fingers through it. "Oh yes, it's every girl's dream of prematurely greying… or whiting in my case." Harry laughed at my misfortune, and I nudged him.

"Have you had a good summer, Harry?" asked Hermione. "Did you get our food parcels and everything?"

He nodded and looked down at the Gryffindor colored Nike's I got him. "Yeah, thanks a lot. They saved my life, those cakes and it's really nice to have something that fits me other than my robes."

We sat there in a tense silence, obviously wanting to talk about my father, but Ginny was here and I just couldn't let anything slip. Not when things haven't died down yet.

"I think they've stopped arguing." Hermione stated as Ginny looked among us suspiciously. "Shall we go down and help your mum with dinner?"

Ron went along with it, not really having much of a choice. "Yeah, all right."

Everyone stood up to leave, but I stayed sitting before wondering out loud. "I thought we came up here to show me to my room?" Harry rolled his eyes and pulled me up from the bed.

* * *

><p>We made it to the kitchen, silent as the grave because we were all scared of Mrs. Weasley's temper.<p>

"We're eating out in the garden. There's just not room for twelve people in here. Could you take the plates outside, girls? Bill and Charlie are setting up the table." I needed no coaxing.

I grabbed as many plates as I could carry and ran outside. I saw the eldest Weasley boys laughing while talking to each other. I couldn't see anything under me which ended up being a major problem when I was nearly to the table.

I don't know what it was, but my foot hit it and it sent me tumbling.

I'm sure my cheeks turned as red as russet skin could, as I lie flat on the ground, a few plates beneath me and the rest broken at Bill and Charlie's feet.

"Are you ok?" I nodded and accepted Bill's hand up.

Once on my feet, I gripped my curly locks and groaned. "She's gonna kill me." I glanced at the house, expecting to see the short ginger woman charging out to tear me a new one.

Charlie laughed and patted me on the back, not comforting me at all. "No she won't."

Bill took out his wand and cast _reparo_ on all the dishes. I smiled and prepared to grant him a 'thank you', but I was distracted by the fact that he was stacking all the plates and setting them to the side on a granite bench.

"What are you doing? I need to place those." Bill nodded, turning back to face me.

"And you will. **After** Charlie and I have a little fun." They both stepped back and pointed their wands to the tables.

I had no idea why this would be fun until I saw the tables levitating and I wanted in.

I jumped onto the one on the left before it was too high off the ground. Charlie was controlling this one.

"Fred and George told us you were a daredevil." I gripped the table and smiled down at him, not at least ten feet in the air.

"Who? Me? I haven't the foggiest of what you mean." They laughed and once the tables got about twenty feet high, they started ramming them into each other.

It was a little hard to keep balance, but once I figured out the frequency of the banging, it was a breeze. Enough for me to stand on it like a surf board. Down below, Fred and George were cheering for me. Ginny was laughing and Hermione looked worried, as usual.

I decided to show boat and leap from one table to the next.

I could hear the twins cheering as I balanced myself. Turns out, my effort was futile due to Bill charging the table into Charlie's hard enough for the leg to fall off and I stumbled to my knees.

I opened my mouth to yell down at the gorgeous rocker, but Percy stuck his head out of his window which was level with my table. "Will you keep it down?"

I shrugged my shoulders innocently, so he diverted his attention down to his oldest brother. "Sorry, Perce." He didn't sound sorry at all. "How are the cauldron bottoms coming on?"

"Very badly." He answered before slamming the window in my face.

Still recoiling from the loud noise, I felt the table float down beneath me and just as I was about to hop off, a cloth of sorts was thrown over my head, rendering me unable to see or move.

"Bill, stop it. She probably can't get out." Before I could even stand up for myself, the tablecloth was removed and a hand was reaching out to help me off the table.

I swatted it away once I saw it was Bill's and hopped off the tabled myself. I punched him in the arm before thanking my unlikely hero. "I greatly appreciate it, Hermione." She nodded as we walked past Harry and Ron who were holding the silverware.

Before us girls went in the house, I looked back to see Ron shaking his head and Bill holding firmly onto the arm I punched.

* * *

><p>At seven, we were all seated at the repaired tables that groaned under the weight of all the food.<p>

I winced at the nose, really hoping Mrs. Weasley didn't recognize the sound and ask what we'd been up to.

I tried to enjoy the delicious meal Mrs. Weasley prepared for us, but Percy was dominating the conversation with boring Ministry talk. I wanted to hear more about Bill and Charlie.

"I've told Mr. Crouch that I'll have it ready by Tuesday. That's a bit sooner than he expected it, but I like to keep on top of things. I think he'll be grateful I've done it in good time, I mean, it's extremely busy in our department just now, what with all the arrangements for the World Cup. We're just not getting the support we need from the Department of Magical Games and Sports. Ludo Bagman-" "I like Ludo." His father interrupted. "He was the one who got us such good tickets for the cup. I did him a bit of a favor. His brother, Otto, got into a spot of trouble- a lawnmower with unnatural powers- I smoothed the whole thing over."

He waved off his dad's story, not really listening to his opinion. "Oh Bagman's likable enough, of course, but how he ever got to be Head of Department… when I compare him to Mr. Crouch! I can't see Mr. Crouch losing a member of our department and not trying to find out what's happened to them. You realize Bertha Jorkins has been missing for over a month now? Went on holiday to Albania and never came back?"

"Yes, I was asking Ludo about that." Mr. Weasley seemed upset. "He says Bertha's gotten lost plenty of times before now- though I must say, if it was someone in my department, I'd be worried…"

"Oh Bertha's **hopeless**, alright. I hear she's been shunned from department for years- among others of course-" Percy glanced at me before going on. "More trouble than she's worth… but all the same, Bagman ought to be trying to find her. Mr. Crouch was quite fond of her- but Bagman just keeps laughing and saying she probably misread the map and ended up in Australia instead of Albania. However-" He paused to take a sip of his wine and sigh dramatically. "we've got quite enough on our plates at the Department of International Magical Cooperation without trying to find members of other departments too. As you know, we've got another big event to organize right after the World Cup."

Tired of his rambling, I turned to my right to observe the very attractive Bill while he was being analyzed by his overbearing mother.

"Why must you dress this way? You're already a young handsome man, these… rags do absolutely nothing for you." I nearly choked on my pumpkin juice as I mentally begged to differ.

"The fang especially. The things they must say at the bank." He worked there? I needed to change my currency more often if it meant seeing him instead of those creepy black eyed goblins.

"Mum, no one at the bank gives a damn how I dress as long as I get the job done." I was in awe of his smirk, but I made sure not to stare or else Ron would have my head.

"And your hair's getting silly, dear. I wish you'd let me give it a trim…" Now she was just spewing nonsense.

"I like it." Ginny spoke up. "You're so old fashioned, Mum. Anyway, it's nowhere near as long as Professor Dumbledore's…" knowing I wouldn't be able to last much longer without just full on staring at Bill, I decided to turn my attention to an easier topic. Quidditch.

"It's got to be Ireland." Charlie argued with a full mouth. "They flattened Peru in the semifinals."

"Bulgaria has got nothing on Troy. He could get 150 points far before Krum could even lay an eye on the Snitch." Charlie pointed a thick blistered finger at me before nodding.

"She's right. Krum's one decent player. Ireland has got seven. I wish England had got through. That was embarrassing." I winced at the thought. Although he was Scottish, Oliver had been really upset about our loss.

"What happened?" asked Harry.

"Went down to Transylvania, three hundred and ninety to ten." Charlie answered begrudgingly.

"Mum and I suspect the referee was biased. His canines were awfully pointy and my da- uh, the _Daily Prophet_ did say that the match took place at night." I sighed quietly, glad that I had caught myself just in time.

Luckily Charlie didn't catch on and just went on with the conversation. "I doubt he was a Vampire, but I'm sure that was one of the largest margins in Quidditch history. And Wales lost to Uganda , and Scotland was slaughtered by Luxembourg."

I groaned at that one and pushed my plate away. Oliver made me particularly annoyed with his daily owls complaining about how much he and his family were so upset about it. When I'd get back home from the tropics, there'd be a dozen letters on the coffee table even though I told him I'd be with my muggle family for most of the summer.

Mr. Weasley conjured up some candles as we ate mouthwatering strawberry ice cream for dessert.

I snuck off a little into the garden to sit and watch Crookshanks chase the creepy gnomes around. The last time I hadn't seen him in a cage, he was purring on my dad's chest in the Shrieking Shack back when we were all sure that he was a murderer. Now those were fun times.

I didn't really want to admit it, but I missed him already. He is such a good father to me. I know I don't have much to compare him to, but it was obvious that he was trying to cram 13 years of parenting into two months. It was cute really.

He wanted to teach me everything he knew about magic and I do mean everything.

"That was a close one." I jumped at Harry's voice, not expecting him to have followed me.

It wasn't until he sat down that I realized he was referring to my slip up when conversing with Charlie.

I nodded and leaned my head against his shoulder before saying, "Yeah, too close."

I smiled contently as we basked in our silence, actually comfortable enough with each other to do so. I had missed him a lot and I really couldn't wait until the Ministry got distracted, so we could settle down and be a proper family.

Dad told me about this ancient house that belonged to his family and I really couldn't wait to move in.

That reminded me. "Harry, did you know-" "So- **have** you heard from Sirius lately?" Ron whispered, looking around cautiously before taking a seat next to Harry.

Hermione did the same next to me and I shook my head after removing it from Harry's shoulder. Ron knew that asking Harry about _my_ father would bother me after having spent the _entire_ summer with him. I guess he was still holding that grudge if he didn't want to hear it from the horse's mouth.

"Yeah, twice. He sounds okay. I wrote to him yesterday. He might write back while I'm here." Harry sounded confused and looked to me as if asking me to expand on it, but I just shrugged, not wanting to tell Ron anything unless he asked me directly.

"Look at the time." Mrs. Weasley announced from behind us. "You really should be in bed, the whole lot of you- you'll be up at the crack of dawn to get to the Cup. Harry, Adhara, if you leave your school list out, I'll get your things for you at Diagon Alley. I'm getting everyone else's. There might not be time after the World Cup, the match went on for five days last time."

"Wow- hope it does this time!" I nodded in agreement. "Sounds like paradise."

"It certainly does not." Percy barked at me. "I shudder to think what the state of my in-tray would be if I was away from work for five days." I rolled my eyes at him as we made our way into the humble abode.

"Yeah, someone might slip dragon dung in it again, eh, Perce." I laughed at Fred and even harder once I saw how red Percy's face was.

"That was a sample of fertilizer from Norway!" He defended poorly. "It was nothing **personal**!"

We were set on following him up the staircase until Fred held us back, not speaking until he was out of ear shot.

"It was." he whispered and my face held an expression of expectancy as he paused like a comedian before hitting us with the punch line.

"We sent it."

And from that moment until I was settled in bed, I giggled at Percy's misfortune.

"Adhara, you heard Mrs. Weasley. We have to get up **really** early tomorrow- stop laughing!"

* * *

><p>RandomAsRainbows: That's Adhara for you.<p> 


	5. Why Shouldn't We Show Our Colors?

**Disclaimer:** Harry Potter was born from the Queen during her struggle of falling on hard times. He saved her and in turn, she saved him.

**A/N: What am I doing wrong? I'd just love to know the answer to that question.**

**Anyways, made this one longer for you guys. **

I felt like a zombie when I walked down the long and winding stairs with Hermione and Ginny after what felt like 15 minutes of sleep.

The sun wasn't up yet which made me rather cranky. Dad had found that out the hard way in the Florida Keys. I felt really bad for him, but at least he won't make the same mistake twice, that's for sure.

Which makes me think… maybe that's why I was such a delinquent at Beauxbatons. We had to get up at six on schooldays.

"Why do we have to be up so early?" Ginny mumbled as she sat down at the kitchen table.

As customary, I sat next to Harry and started spreading some grape jam onto a golden piece of toast.

"We've got a bit of a walk." My head was spinning with how quickly my neck turned it towards Mr. Weasley.

"Walk? What, are we walking to the World Cup?" asked Harry.

"No, no, that's miles away." answered Mr. Weasley, causing me to sigh in relief. "We only need to walk a short way. It's just that it's very difficult for a large number of wizards to congregate without attracting Muggle attention. We have to be very careful about how we travel at the best of times, and on a huge occasion like the Quidditch World Cup-" "George!"

Everyone jumped at Mrs. Weasley yelling at her fifth child. "What?" he answered too casual to be deemed innocent.

"What is that in your pocket?"

"Nothing!" It was much too early for all this yelling.

"Don't you lie to me!" she pointed her wand that was already at the ready towards his pocket and used the accio spell.

I laughed as they flew into her hand, remembering their familiar wrappings from the incident at the Dursley's. "We told you to destroy them! We told you to get rid of the lot! Empty your pockets, go on, both of you!" They didn't cooperate, so Mrs. Weasley had to use the accio charm to get them **all** out.

"We spent six months developing those!" Fred cried as she threw them all away.

"Oh, a fine way to spend six months! No wonder you didn't get more O.W.L.S.!" I put my toast in my mouth as we walked out, wanting to be in a much lighter atmosphere.

"Well, have a lovely time." she said sweetly as she stood in the doorway. "And behave yourselves." She directed the last part specifically at the twins. "I'll send Bill, Charlie and Percy along around midday."

* * *

><p>The moon was still out and the combination of its pale beauty and the deliciousness of my toast, made me somehow less miserable this early in the morning.<p>

"Adhara!" I turned to face Hermione who was joining my side and nodded to her in greeting.

"I know Ron was being rather difficult yesterday, but I'd really love to hear about your summer if you're willing to share it." I understood how she was wording herself and looked around to see if we were in the clear.

Harry was walking with Mr. Weasley, the twins together and Ron with Ginny.

We were all a ways away from each other, so I stepped closer to Hermione and told her everything about my summer. From the best birthday planned by my sneaky parents, to getting my invite from Mrs. Weasley.

We followed everyone over the hill, being the last ones up, so consumed with our girl talk. "Well, that explains why you look so weathered and homesick."

I was aware that I looked rugged, but I was certain she was exaggerating the whole homesick thing.

"Now we just need the Portkey." announced Mr. Weasley to all of us. "It won't be big… Come on…" We all spread out, Harry and I in the same general area. I gave him a smirk as we walked along, checking the ground and crevices of where the tree and ground met.

We weren't searching long before I was distracted by an unfamiliar voice. "Over here, Arthur! Over here, son, we've got it!"

There were two people that I couldn't make out standing on the hilltop we just came from. "Amos!" Mr. Weasley ran over to them and we all followed, but were confused because we were not informed that others would be joining us.

The man looked to be Mr. Weasley's age and had a long brown beard and a jolly look on his face. "This is Amos Diggory, everyone. He works for the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures. And I think you know his son, Cedric?"

I surely did. He was the handsome fellow from Hufflepuff who was one of many to take a peek at Harry's Firebolt when he first got it, and before that, he was the suspiciously fair captain that tried to call a rematch when Harry fainted.

"Hi." he greeted and of course we did the same.

"Long walk, Arthur?" asked Mr. Diggory who was holding a ratty old boot with torn laces.

"Not too bad. We just live on the other side of the village there. You?"

"Had to get up at two, didn't we Ced? I tell you, I'll be glad when he's got his Apparation test. Still… not complaining… Quidditch World Cup, wouldn't miss it for a sackful of Galleons- and the tickets cost about that. Mind you, looks like I got off easy…" He looked around at all of us kids before asking, "All these yours, Arthur?" I sniggered at the question, before trying to cover it with a cough.

I know it was dark out, but physically, I was the farthest thing from a Weasley.

"Oh no, only the redheads. This is Adhara and Hermione, friends of Ron- and Harry, another friend-" "Merlin's beard. Harry? Harry Potter?"

"Er- yeah," Harry answered like he was used to it, but to me, it was bizarre and honestly a bit rude. Even I- the least self restrained person I knew- didn't freak out when I first met him.

"Ced's talked about you, of course. Told us all about playing against you last year… I said to him, I said- Ced, that'll be something to tell your grandchildren, that will… You beat Harry Potter!" I just scowled at the man, Cedric too. To go home bragging about something he seemed so humble about at school.

"Harry fell off his broom, Dad." Oh sure, **now** you sound embarrassed. "I told you… it was an accident…" "Yes, but **you** didn't fall off, didn't you?" He grinned and patted Cedric on the back. "Always modest, our Ced, always the gentleman… but the best man won, I'm sure Harry'd say the same, wouldn't you, eh? One falls off his broom, one stays on, you don't need to be a genius to tell which one's the better flier!"

I gave him a fake smile before saying, "We'll see if that title holds true this year with Harry's Firebolt and all."

Everyone's eyes went wide at my ballsy comment, but Mr. Weasley quickly changed the topic. "Must be nearly time." he said, glancing at his watch. "Do you know if we're waiting for any more, Amos?"

He shook his head at the ginger. "No, the Lovegoods have been there for a week already and the Fawcetts couldn't get tickets. There aren't any more of us in this area, are there?"

"Not that I know of." He looked at his watch once more. "Yes, it's a minute off… We'd better get ready…" He turned to us non-Weasleys for instructions. "You just need to touch the Portkey, that's all, a finger will do-"

We all bunched around Mr. Diggory who was not holding out the boot, so we could all be in reach. I shivered at the cruel wind as Mr. Weasley began to count down. "Three…" he was using his watch to do so. "two… one…"

I breathed deeply and closed my eyes and soon enough, I felt my feet hit something, but I couldn't keep my balance and ended up tripping to the ground. Partially due to my dizziness and partially due to my eyes being closed.

I heard groaning beneath me and I opened my eyes to see Harry's and Ron's legs under my torso.

I sat up slowly and put a hand on Ron's shoulder to steady myself. I blinked and turned my head to the side to fight the bile that had risen in my throat.

"Oh no, no, no! Not on me!" Ron up and scurried away as I rose to my feet.

I was swaying, but at least the feeling of barfing was going away.

I felt a small hand on my forehead and I opened my eyes to see Hermione. "Oh, Adhara. Are you alright?"

I could feel the sweat beads forming around my face so I removed her hand and nodded slowly to let her know I was ok. "Seven past five from Stoatshead Hill."

The air around us was misty and cool, and not too far away were two wizards who looked older than Dumbledore. The one who had spoken was holding a shiny gold watch and the other a thick parchment and quill.

I could tell they were wizards by how poorly they were wearing their muggle attire. The one with the giant watch was wearing a tweed suit that was probably stolen from John Cleese's closet, along with a pair of galoshes that went all the way up to his thighs. The other took the cake with his kilt and his bright yellow poncho.

"Morning, Basil." Mr. Weasley handed the funniest looking one the boot and he just threw it into the pile of junk behind him.

"Hello there, Arthur. Not on duty, eh? It's all right for some… We've been here all night… You'd better get out of the way, we've got a big party coming in from the Black Forest at five- fifteen. Hang on, I'll find your campsite… Weasley… Weasley…" He went down to the bottom of the parchment until he found our party.

"About a quarter of a mile's walk over there, first field you come to… Site manager's called Mr. Roberts. Diggory… second field… ask for Mr. Payne."

"Thanks, Basil." Mr. Weasley waved to him before leading us down the pathway.

Once we got there, we bid goodbye to the Diggorys. Well, all except the twins and me.

We had stopped in front of a cottage where a man was standing, watching all the tents that were lined up perfectly for miles. "Morning!" greeted Mr. Weasley kindly.

"Morning." The man answered back. "Would you be Mr. Roberts?"

"Aye, I would, and who're you?" "Weasley- two tents booked a couple days ago?" The man nodded and looked at the list pinned to his door.

"Aye. You've got a space up by the wood there. Just one night?" "That's it." answered Mr. Weasley nervously.

"You'll be paying now, then?" "Ah- right- certainly-" He pulled me- the closest to him- away from the cottage and said, "Help me, Adhara."

He took a roll of Muggle money from his pocket and I understood why he was so nervous. This man had no idea that we were wizards.

"This one's a- a- a ten? Ah yes, I see the little number on it now… So this is a five?" I looked up at him in sympathy. "A twenty." I corrected and he nodded in relief.

"Ah yes, so it is… I don't know, these little bits of paper…" "You foreign?" Mr. Roberts asked when we turned back around.

"Foreign?" Mr. Weasley asked and I too was confused. Just because we didn't use the word 'Aye' in every sentence like he did, didn't mean we were foreign. Even though I had no idea where we actually were.

"You're not the first one who's had trouble with money. I had two try and pay me with great gold coins the size of hubcaps ten minutes ago." I clenched my jaw and swallowed in shock. What if we were found out by a muggle? Would we not be able to go to the Cup just because we didn't hand in the proper change?

"Did you really?" Mr. Weasley asked apprehensively as the man searched in a tin for change.

"Never been this crowded." I can't believe the Ministry was able to do all of this under his nose. "Hundreds of pre-bookings. People usually just turn up…" "Is that right?" Mr. Weasley inquired as he handed him the bill and kept his hand out for change, but received none.

"Aye. People from all over. Loads of foreigners. Weirdos, you know? There a bloke walking 'round in a kilt and a poncho." I spoke up, attempting to get him off our back. "I did hear that it might rain today." Mr. Roberts shook his head and continued.

"It's like some sort of… I dunno… like some sort of rally. They all seem to know each other. Like a big party."

I jumped at the apparition of a Wizard who shouted "_Obliviate_." At Mr. Roberts before we could even blink.

The Muggle's eyes glazed over and a smile grew on his previously bothered face. "A map of the campsite for you. And your change." Mr. Weasley finally looked at ease as he took the items from the man before leading us to the Wizard behind the cottage.

Without introduction, he walked us to the campsite gate and I must say, he looked tired. Judging by his appearance he hadn't shaved in a couple of days, nor slept. "Been having a lot of trouble with him. Needs a memory charm ten times a day to keep him happy. And Ludo Bagman's not helping. Trotting around about Bludgers and Quaffles at the top of his voice, not a worry about anti-Muggle security. Blimey, I'll be glad when this is over. See you later, Arthur." and with that, he disapparated.

"I thought Mr. Bagman was Head of Magical Games and Sports. He should know better than to talk about Bludgers near Muggles, shouldn't he?" I nodded at Ginny's question, in complete agreement.

"He should, but Ludo's always been a bit… well… lax about security. You couldn't wish for a more enthusiastic Head of the Sports Department though. He played Quidditch for England himself, you know. And he was the best Beater the Winbourne Wasps ever had." I smiled at Mr. Weasley's words and decided to add my two cents.

"Hit all his targets, but two." Mr. Weasley beamed at me and ruffled my hair. "And Ron said you didn't know a thing about Quidditch."

I laughed at his son's stupidity and sarcastically stated, "Yes, I just happen to own the world's fastest broom purely for the function of sweeping." Everyone, but Ron laughed with me as we trekked on. I was probably more of a Quidditch fan than he was.

* * *

><p>There were thousands of tents lined along the path and most of them were plain and would not seem out of the ordinary by muggle standards. But some of them didn't care in the slightest.<p>

There was one with a chimney, one made out of silk with a shit load of peacocks tethered outside of it, one with three floors and one with a full garden in the front. "Always the same. We can't resist showing off when we get together. Ah, here we are, look, this is us."

On the patch of grass was a wooden sign sticking out of the ground bearing the name 'WEEZLY'.

"Couldn't have a better spot!" exclaimed Mr. Weasley. "The field is just on the other side of the wood there, we're as close as we could be." He took the backpack off his shoulders before giving directions. "Right. No magic allowed, strictly speaking, not when we're out in these numbers on Muggle land. We'll be putting these tents up by hand! Shouldn't be too difficult… Muggles do it all the time… Right, Adhara?" I laughed at his uncertainty. "Yes, Mr. Weasley. I've been camping loads of times."

That's all my cousins wanted to do during the summer and I'm sure we would've if I would've visited for more than a week.

Since Harry, Hermione and I were the only ones who actually knew what camping was, we took the lead and told the others how to help. I will say, it was rather hard, but we did it.

I patted Harry on the back as Mr. Weasley disappeared inside the tiny tent. "We'll be a bit cramped, but I think we'll all squeeze in. Come and have a look." I let Harry go first before climbing in after him.

It wasn't like any tent I had ever been in before. Then again, I had never been in a magical tent.

It was more like a flat than a tent, with a kitchen and bathroom included.

I scooted back out, ignoring the protests of the twins. I let them go inside as I looked at the outside of the tent, to make sure I wasn't crazy.

I went back in and shook my head. This was four times bigger than what we built.

"Well. Why don't you, Harry, Adhara and Hermione go get us some water then-" I walked over to them and received a saucepan from Mr. Weasley. "And the rest of us will get some wood for a fire?"

"But we've got an oven." whined Ron. "Why can't we just-" "Ron, anti-Muggle security!" He loudly clarified to his dense son. "When real muggles camp, they cook on fires outdoors. I've seen them at it!"

After Mr. Weasley gave us a tour of the smaller tent that Ginny, Hermione ad I would be sharing, we went in search of water, as we were told.

* * *

><p>On our journey, I linked arms with Harry and I had to shove Ron out of the way in order to do so. It was easy to ignore his glaring with the diverse groups of people around.<p>

I saw some African wizards looking particularly wise in their long white robes. There were even American witches who had a stars and stripes banner that read: THE SALEM WITCHES INSTITUTE. When we were in America, I really wanted to make a visit, but dad reminded me that he was wanted all over the world, not just England.

"Er- is it my eyes, or has everything gone green?" I smiled at Ron's words before clapping with joy. Our tent should be moved over here!

It was an emerald paradise with shamrocks everywhere. I'm sure it was the only place on earth where my outfit wouldn't be considered too much.

"Harry! Ron! Hermione! Adhara!" We turned at the sound of our names to see Seamus Finnigan, an older woman who was probably his mother and Dean Thomas, all sitting in front of a bright green tent.

I waved to them before we walked over with our pots and pans. "Like the decorations?" Seamus asked slyly. "The Ministry's not too happy." I admired my surroundings before saying, "If it pisses Fudge off, then by all means…" The two boys laughed at my encouragement and Dean leaned forward to give me a high five.

"Ah, why shouldn't we show our colors?" added Mrs. Finnigan. "You should see what the Bulgarians gave got dangling all over their tents. You'll be supporting Ireland, of course?" She examined us, and I got very nervous because she was obviously Irish, but calmed down when I reminded myself that I looked like a damn Slytherin with all the green I was wearing. "Yes ma'am."

As we walked off, I heard Ron tell Harry, "Like we'd say anything else surrounded by that lot." I gasped at his whispering and turned to the two of them. They weren't wearing a single speck of green!

"I wonder what the Bulgarians have got dangling all over their tents?" voiced Hermione. "Let's go have a look." Harry pointed to a bunch of tents sporting a flag I didn't recognize.

I put up a bit of a struggle as Harry tugged me along. "Do you want me to get slaughtered?" We were nearly there and Harry still persisted in pulling me. "Stop. Being. Difficult." He gave one last tug before stopping to rub his lanky arms.

"What's that supposed to mean?" I mean, I wasn't that hard to pull, was I?

He just gave me a pointed look before walking away into the enemy territory without answering my question. "Harry!" I yelled as I chased him to where Ron and Hermione were standing.

I groaned, realizing where I was and retaliated by swatting him square in his bony chest. "You tricked me!"

"Krum." I heard Ron whisper softly to himself.

"What?" Hermione asked, and Ron answered with a defensive tone to his voice. "Krum! Victor Krum, the Bulgarian seeker!" I looked at the posters of his face on every single tent and shrugged.

"Not much of a looker, is he?" Hermione shook her head at me. "I wouldn't quite say that. He just looks really grumpy." Ron seemed really upset at our discussion for some reason. "Really grumpy? Who cares what he looks like? He's unbelievable. He's really young too. Only just eighteen or something. He's a genius, you wait until tonight, you'll see."

I rolled my eyes before walking over to the tap. If I had to be in this death trap, I didn't want to be here long. There were a few people in front of us, two of them in a heated argument. "Just put them on, Archie, there's a good chap. You can't walk around like that, the Muggle at the gate's already getting suspicious-" "I bought this in a Muggle shop. Muggles wear them." My jaw nearly hit the floor when I noticed that the wizard was not wearing white robes, but a nightgown.

Hermione and I laughed at his gender bending appearance, but tried to hold our snickers back, but it was really hard because her face was becoming more and more red as they kept talking. "Muggle **women** wear them, Archie, not the men, they wear **these**," The man held out a pair of pinstripe pants, but the other swatted them away. "I'm not putting them on. I like a healthy breeze 'round my privates, thanks." Behind me, I saw Hermione duck out of line with her hand covering her face and that caused me to chuckle, so I held my pot over my face so the bickering old men couldn't see me.

They filled their pails quickly, Archie still in his nightgown and Hermione returned to us, back to her normal color.

On our way back, we walked slow, careful not to spill the water. Still not out of Bulgarian territory, I was distracted by a voice calling out Harry's name.

We turned to our left to see my boyfriend and Harry's former captain. "Oliver!" I ran over to him first, not before forcing my overflowing pot into Ron's arms most of it getting on his shirt.

I hugged him and immediately my body remembered his muscular form and how good it felt to be pressed against it. "I misst you, Adhara." I looked up into his deep brown eyes and I could see that it was true.

"Hi, Oliver." I stepped aside, feeling a little embarrassed that I forgot Harry was there. "Harry." He greeted him with a handshake. "I want you to meet my parents." He looked between the both of us and we nodded.

I looked behind us and waved to Hermione and Ron. "We'll be right back." Ron just scoffed while Hermione nodded. "Do you want to go to the game with him as well?" I glanced at Oliver before looking back to Hermione to see why she was asking me that question.

"That would be rude, Hermione. The Weasley's invited me-" "I'll explain everything to Mr. Weasley. You two haven't seen each other since King's Cross. Go." I nodded at her in thanks, ignoring Ron's prominent frown.

* * *

><p>I felt nervous entering Oliver's tent. I've never had a boyfriend before, so I've never had to meet their parents. I didn't know his blood status, so I wasn't quite sure what to expect.<p>

I was the last to enter, and immediately, I felt like crawling right back out.

It was huge and clean. And it didn't smell like cats like ours did. But that didn't bother me at all compared to the numerous amounts of red and black banners hanging off the walls.

I felt sick to my stomach, knowing that this wasn't a proper first impression to make, wearing green from head to tow with a very premature streak of white in the front of my hair while they were decked in very tasteful black and red robes.

I watched Harry put down his pan and shake the hands of Mr. and Mrs. Wood with no hesitation. "And this is my girlfriend." I let out a nervous laugh before shaking their hands as well. "Adhara… Elliot. Nice to meet you."

Harry furrowed his brow at my reluctance, but I paid him no mind. "I was wondering if she cuid stay to celebrate."

The fake smile on my face waned for two reasons: I just realized that going to the game with Oliver and his parents meant not going with Harry. And I had no idea what we were celebrating.

"Why, of coorse, dear. You haven't seen her all summer. Plus it's the perfect time to tell her. Speaking of which, how were the tropics?" I forced another smile and stated through gritted teeth, "Great- uh, tell me what?"

Oliver grinned at Harry before sliding his hand around my waist. "I've bin accepted to the Puddlemore United Reserve Team."

* * *

><p>I didn't get any reviews last time, so I don't know what to put here other than review... please? Or even message about how excited you are for Pottermore.<p>

At the risk of sounding desperate, I will even take flames. **Flames are welcome here. **


	6. What Does It Mean?

**Disclaimer: I only own this fanfic. **

**A/N: Congrats to Harry Potter for winning all those awards tonight. Now, we'll just have to wait for the real deal. The Oscars.**

We parted from Harry once we figured it was time to start heading up to the stadium and to claim our respective seats.

He had been strangely distant considering that he was usually affectionate and that we haven't seen each other in a **very** long time.

"What does it mean?" I saw his eyes widen, yet he feigned ignorance. "What?"

"You being on the Reserve Team. **What does it mean**?" He shook his head, but he still couldn't look me in the eye. "Nothin'."

I watched him look down, then finally into my eyes. "Can we just enjoy this? Right 'ere?" His answer bothered me, but the pleading look in his eyes lessened my potential anger.

Here he is, Oliver Wood. Four years my senior, sexy brunette Scot, former Gryffindor Captain, Keeper and Quidditch Cup winner.

He was the boy who was sure to have many suitors, but here he was with me of all people. Personally, I didn't see the appeal, but he liked me and that was all that mattered.

"Do you know where our seats are?" He smiled at my random question, revealing his pearly whites. "Yes."

I pulled him back, no longer following his parents and pushed him into the metal structure of the stadium, craving a good snog.

I stood on my tip toes and pressed my lips against his, my hands on his muscular chest- one of the many pros of dating a Quidditch player.

I could tell he was shocked at my behavior, not fully cooperating at first. But I became encouraged by one of his large hands sliding around my waist and the other running through my wild locks. I moved my hands to the back of his head and closed the gap between our bodies.

I tilted my head to the side and darted my tongue out to lick his lips and he quickly obliged, opening his mouth so his tongue could meet mine for the first time.

Goosebumps sprouted onto my coffee colored skin as we snogged in a rather slow rhythm. By now, the hand that was on my waist had lowered to my hip and my heart was pounding forcefully against his chest.

Remembering my surroundings, I pulled away from him, having lost my breath rather quickly.

I smirked at my boyfriend as I smoothed my shirt down and caught my breath. I looked up, expecting him to be doing the same, but instead, he was still leaning against the wall, giving me a very slow once over.

He looked perfectly unkempt to the point of looking seductive. His hair was much like Harry's at the moment, sticking out at odd angles. His lips were red and his long sleeve shirt clung to the contour of his broad shoulders and muscular arms.

Since he wasn't doing it himself, I stopped closer to fix his hair. And as I did, he pulled me flush against him and I giggled at his behavior. "Oliver!" He let me go and pushed himself from the wall as I took a step back.

"You started it." I grabbed his hand and climbed the stairwell I last saw his parents go up.

"Let's hope that you'll still want to snog me like that **after** Ireland wins." He faked a glare before lightly poking me in the side, causing me to squeal unattractively, but he kept doing it, sadistically enjoying my torture.

* * *

><p>"Ladies and Gentlemen… welcome! Welcome to the final of the four hundred and twenty second Quidditch World Cup!" was the first thing I heard as we made it to the level where our seats were.<p>

Oliver's parents eyed us strangely as we slid into our seats beside them. I tried to play it cool as I clapped along like nothing happened.

"And now, without further ado, allow me to introduce… the Bulgarian National Team Mascots!" I stood out like a sore thumb in this sea of cheering red and black. I shifted awkwardly in my seat and tried to focus on the pitch.

The hair on my arms rose at the sight. I tucked a strand of hair behind my ear as I tried to remain reasonable and stop myself from becoming the average insecure girl who compared their self to those who were much more attractive, but I just couldn't help myself, not when there were a hundred of them and you gained a few pounds over the summer. I'm surprised Oliver didn't say anything yet.

They were the complete opposite of yours truly. Thin with skin the color of the moonlight and straight hair the color of platinum.

I let out an annoyed sigh when they started dancing. I looked to my left to see the men across the aisle completely entranced by these seductresses. I shook my head and scoffed at their lustful behavior. The Veelas' hips started to move faster and in my peripheral I saw Oliver's hands grip the front of our box.

Slowly, I turned to him and sure enough, he was taken as well. "Oliver!" I swatted his shoulder and I swear, if the music wouldn't have stopped, he wouldn't have reacted at all.

"Sorry…" He couldn't look me in the eye as he said it, but I knew he meant it by the way he slouched down in his seat and because he wasn't joining the population of men who were shouting in the absence of the Veelas.

"And now, kindly put your wands in the air… for the Irish National Team Mascots!" I clapped my hands together as a green sparkly orb flew by and divided into two smaller ones that ended up on separate ends of the field and a rainbow was created between them.

At the risk of sounding childish, I was really upset when the rainbow dissipated from above us. The two glittery orbs smashed into each other at a high altitude to create an even brighter shamrock that flew over the stands like a green cloud. A green cloud that pelted us with gold coins.

Trying not to seem poor in front of Oliver's obviously well off parents, I only picked up the coins from my lap and not the ones at my feet, as much as it killed me.

Eventually, the shamrock disappeared and the Leprechauns sat in the sidelines with the Veela signaling that the game was about to start. "And now, ladies and gentlemen, kindly welcome- The Bulgarian National Quidditch Team! I give you- Dimitrov!" I slumped in my seat, not caring if I seemed rude. I couldn't care less about this team. "Ivanova! Zogral! Levski! Vulchanov! Volkov! Aaaaaaand- **Krum**!"

I rolled my eyes as everyone clapped their hearts out for him. "And now, please greet- the Irish National Quidditch Team!" Along with the opposite half of the stadium, I yelled until my throat became sore.

"Presenting- Connolly! Ryan! Troy! Mullet! Moral! Quigley! Aaaaaand- **Lynch**!" I jumped from my seat to applaud for their sexy strawberry blonde chaser, Troy.

"And here, all the way from Egypt, our referee, acclaimed Chairwizard of the International Association of Quidditch, Hassan Mostafa!" Out came a frail bald man with a giant mustache that was so big, I was surprised that he could even handle the weight of it. His robes gold and whistle silver, he didn't need any additional light to be seen as he walked out onto the pitch.

In the blink of an eye, three things happened: He mounted his broom, he kicked open the equipment box and blew the starting whistle. "Theeeeeeeey're OFF! And it's Mullet! Troy! Moran! Dimitrov! Back to Mullet! Troy! Levski! Moran!" Never before had I seen a quaffle move so quickly from the arm of one player to the next.

I gasped as I recognized the formation the Irish were getting into. "The Hawkshead Attacking Formation." I heart Oliver mutter.

The chasers flew shoulder to shoulder, Troy in the middle. "Porskoff Ploy!" Oliver shouted and I couldn't help but to smile. He loved Quidditch so much that he was more concerned about the plays than his loyalty to a certain team.

"TROY SCORES! Ten- zero to Ireland!" Oliver smirked at me as cheering could be heard amongst the thousand of boos.

I stood up again as Troy made a showboating victory lap and I swear on the Marauder's Map that we made eye contact.

I felt at ease with how effortlessly the Irish were dominating this game already. The Chasers were especially impressive, doing flawless play after play like a well oiled machine.

But I couldn't sit still for long. Not when the barbaric Bulgarian beaters were hitting the Bludgers hard enough to tear Troy's head off, if only they had proper aim. Not to mention, they finally made their first goal.

The music started up again and the Veela got up to dance. In an instant, I cupped Oliver's ears, not wanting him to lose control of his salivary glands again.

The sound of many gasping pulled me back to the game to see Krum and Lynch spiraling down at break neck speed. I let go of Oliver as my heart threatened to plummet to my stomach, waiting for the seekers to return to flying.

Although from the opposing team, Krum followed my unspoken demand and pulled his broom up at the last second.

My hand flew to my chest at the sound Lynch's body made as it hit the ground. "It's time out! As trained mediwizards hurry onto the field to examine Aiden Lynch!"

I stomped my boot clad foot hard onto the surface below me and shouted. "Sneaky bastard!" The others in our box glared daggers as I continued my rant. "You bloody manipulative-" Oliver silenced me by pulling me closer and whispering in my ear. "Wronski Defensive Feint, it was Lynch's own fault he fell for it."

"Literally." I whispered back, observing Krum as his head darted around for the Snitch, not really caring that he indirectly injured a man.

It was minutes before I felt I could breathe again. Lynch had hopped on his Firebolt effortlessly and joined his mates on the field.

As they returned to their positions, I could tell they had a vendetta against Bulgaria and were now out for blood. I leaned forward in my seat, for things were about to get good.

I swear, it only took 15 minutes for Ireland to make ten more goals, so it was now 130-10 and I was enjoying the nervous vibe given from Oliver and his parents.

I was jolted back to the game as the foul whistle blew. "And Mostafa takes the Bulgarian Keeper to task for cobbing-excessive use of elbows! And-yes, it's a penalty to Ireland!" I chuckled as the Leprechauns formed the words 'HA HA HA' in the sky.

Although they had no reason to celebrate, the Veela jumped to their dainty feet and began to dance again.

Like a good boy, Oliver plugged his ears while I focused on the strange happenings below us.

The referee flew down and landed right in front of the Veela. Then he started to flex his nonexistent muscles and stroking his heavy mustache. "Now, we can't have that! Somebody slap the referee!"

I succumbed to a fit of giggles as a mediwizard ran across the field, fingers in his ears and kicked the ref in the shins, which successfully snapped him out of the awkward jig he was doing.

The Veela stopped dancing as he waved his arms about while yelling at them. I couldn't hear it, but that's what had to be happening, judging by the look on their faces. "And unless I'm mistaken, Mostafa is actually attempting to send off the Bulgarian mascots! Now there's something we haven't seen before… Oh this could turn nasty…"

The Bulgarian beaters flew down on either side of him, further delaying their Irish asskicking by trying to stand up for their 'mascots'. And to make matters worse, the Leprechauns now read 'HEE HEE HEE'. Which caused Mostafa to point at them in the air and blow his whistle twice.

"Two penalties for Ireland!-" "Bullshit." I stated, not a big enough deal for me to actually yell about. Two penalties this far in the game wasn't going to stop us from winning.

"And Volkov and Vulchanov had better get back on those brooms… yes… there they go… And Troy takes the Quaffle…" All four beaters were swinging their bats with immense fury at this point. So much so, that I braced myself for the sound of cracking bones.

I could hear the sound of all the green clad fans shout together on the other side of the stadium and I couldn't really understand why. "Foul." I heard my boyfriend and the announcer say at the same time.

"Dimitrov skins Moran-deliberately flying to collide there- and it's got to be another penalty- yes, there's the whistle!" I started to get annoyed as the Leprechauns flew into the sky again, this time forming my favorite hand gesture.

The Veela were becoming enraged at the jesting. So much so, that they rose from their seats and started hurling fireballs at the Leprechauns. I watched them in disgust as they became rather ugly and not just in the personality department.

The soft contours of their faces were becoming sharp and pointed. And strange jagged scales were protruding from their backs. "Oh, how charming."

Wizards ran onto the field and the morbid side of me prayed for a riot. Unfortunately, they were just breaking the mascots up. It was so entertaining that I almost forgot there was a Quidditch match going on up above.

"Levski-Dimitrov-Moran-Troy-Mullet-Ivanova-Moran again-Moran- MORAN SCORES!" My eyes flickered between the game and the Ministry Men down on the pitch. They were hurling spells at the Veela, receiving complaints from all the Bulgarian fans.

Not that I think it hurt his mug or the brain behind it, I couldn't resist the urge to wince as Krum's face was greeted with Quigley's Bludger.

Blood sprayed everywhere and I found myself wishing I could rewind and play it at slow motion if I so pleased.

The ref couldn't do a thing, a Veela just having set the tail of his broom on fire.

With the speed Lynch was going, I knew that shit just got real: The Snitch had been spotted.

Only for a few seconds was Lynch on the hunt alone. Despite his injury, Krum was right behind him. For the second time, the pair of them were damn near freefalling to the ground, only this time I didn't care due to the common sense of the 'fool me once' rule.

As soon as Lynch crashed onto the pitch, he was swarmed upon by the Veela.

I crossed my arms in anger that Krum had gotten the Snitch. That is, until I remembered that Ireland was well into the lead for the entire game. I looked up to the scoreboard as I saw the opposite end of the stadium cheering.

It read 'BULGARIA: 160, IRELAND: 170'. "IRELAND WINS!" Not caring about the Bulgarian supporters around me, I clapped and cheered until my hands and throat were raw.

"KRUM GETS THE SNITCH-BUT IRELAND WINS-good lord, I don't think any of us were expecting that!" Although I wasn't expecting Oliver to be a sore loser, I **definitely** wasn't expecting him to clap along and give me a celebratory peck in front of his parents.

* * *

><p><strong>Cal26lum: I'm glad we discussed this. You've made me a better me!<strong>

**RandomAsRainbows: Thank you! I try to be as descriptive as possible. Congrats on Pottermore. I hope you get your welcome letter soon!**

**Megirl97: You're too sweet!**

**Vorpal Soul: Just the first sentence of your review made me tear up. You get me. As a writer, that's all I can ask for. I liked and respected the books so much, that I knew that I had to stay true to it. But I also knew, that there was room for one more in an already perfect story. About the zillion reviews though, you're gonna have to tell my silent readers that. I'm sorry about the Adhara appearance description being so late, but there were many reasons that I did it so late. If you want, I could add it in an Author's Note or I could message it to you because this reply is already getting a bit too lengthy. And please do become a regular reviewer. I don't have any of those and I'd like to have at least one. **


	7. Stupefy!

**Disclaimer: See other disclaimers.**

**A/N: Honestly, I should have attached this to the last chap, but I'm not exactly the smartest person in the world. But whatever. I got my second Pottermore email today and I feel like celebrating with another chapter with this, so here you go. Oh and you'll probably complain about the length, but the next one will probably be the longest so far. **

I pulled away, nearly panting in his embrace. "Oliver…" I looked into his hazel eyes and the raised brow that sat above them.

I honestly could do this forever, but I felt bad enough for not watching the game with the Weasleys. "I should go."

It had been well over twenty minutes since we strayed from his parents so he could walk me to the Weasley tent. Obviously we hadn't been doing much walking.

He nodded and I gave him one last peck before walking down the trail to the Weasley tent. Even outside, I could hear Ron boring the rest of the boys with his love for Krum. "He's like a bird, the way he rides the wind! He's more than an athlete! He's an artist."

I pulled back the flap and stood up from crawling in to see the twins flapping their arms around him and Harry and Ginny were doing their taunting from a distance. "I think you're in love, Ron." I grinned at the youngest Weasley, she was a good replacement for my poking fun.

"Shut up!" Fred and George each grabbed onto one of his hands and began singing. "Victor, I love you! Victor, I do!" "When we're apart, my heart beats only for you!" I sang along loudly to the last lyric. "Adhara!" I whipped around at Mr. Weasley's greeting. "I was expecting you to be out a wee bit longer." My black brows nearly hit my forehead at that. I thought he would've been pissed that I strayed off without permission.

Instead, he was holding out a hot cocoa as I approached him. "How was the game from the Bulgarian side?" I smiled at Bill before sitting down with the adults. "Lovely. By the end, I was sure they all wanted to kill me."

* * *

><p>We all stayed up for a few more hours before Mr. Weasley sent us to bed.<p>

Hermione and I walked to the girls' tent, whereas Ginny had to be carried by Charlie because she had fallen asleep and he didn't have the heart to wake his only sister.

Even though I'd been up since three, I couldn't sleep.

Too many things were running through my head, just like after you watch a really good movie.

I had a great time today, but I just couldn't get past the whole Puddlemore United thing.

I did manage to doze off a little, but it only felt like a few minutes when Mr. Weasley came barging in, urgently telling us to put on our coats.

In the blink of an eye, I had my hoodie on and I was sprinting out of the tent. I slowed down and sighed once I saw Harry standing not too far away.

Instantly, I put an arm around his shoulder while trying to make sense of the people floating in the air. "We're going to help the Ministry!" Mr. Weasley shouted as he rolled up his sleeves. "You lot- get into the woods, and stick together. I'll come and fetch you when we've sorted this out!"

I watched Mr. Weasley and his three eldest sons ran into the chaos while the rest of us lingered by the tent. "C'mon." ordered Fred as he held onto his sister's hand. I only found it fit that I do the same to Harry.

I put my arm around Harry again as people ran around us and sometimes between us, trying to separate us in the dark.

My body went frigid as I heard Ron scream in agony. "What happened?" Hermione asked as we stopped behind her. "Ron, where are you? Oh this is stupid- _lumos_!" I gasped at her law breaking, but it was cut short at the sight of Ron face down in the dirt.

"Tripped over a tree root." he groaned, getting up to his feet. I was just about to berate him for scaring me like that, but I was interrupted by a familiar voice.

"Well, with feet that size, hard not to." Malfoy was leaning on a tree behind us with his arms crossed like this was an everyday thing for him. "Go fuck yourself, Malfoy."

Ok, who were these people and what have they done with my friends?

"Language, Weasley. Hadn't you better be hurrying along, now? You wouldn't like **her** spotted, would you?" He nodded towards Hermione and as if on cue, a loud bang and a bright flash of green light went off behind him and outlined the permanent smirk on his face.

"What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, mimicking his crossed arms. "Granger, they're after **Muggles**. D'you want to be showing off your knickers in midair? Because if you do, hang around… they're moving this way, and it would give us all a laugh." I scoffed before saying, "Did she not slap you hard enough last term, or do I have to remind you how it felt?"

I pulled up the sleeves of my hoodie, ready to give him a nice beating, but Hermione put a firm hand on my shoulder, getting me to stop. "Hermione's a witch." Harry reminded the ignorant blonde.

"Have it your way, Potter. If you think they can't spot a Mudblood, stay where you are." From the moment that word flew out of his mouth, chills crept up my spine and tears were beckoned to the brim of my lids. My mother was included in that derogatory term.

"You watch your mouth!" Ron shouted and I looked to the stars as I blinked back my tears. "Never mind, Ron." Ordered the only person in our group who had the right to be directly offended, but here she was, holding **us** back.

Another bang went off and I bit my lip desperately not wanting to be here anymore. "Scare easily, don't they? I suppose your daddy told you all to hide? What's he up to- trying to rescue the Muggles?" The jerk was obviously getting the best of us, even Harry.

"Where're your parents? Out there wearing masks, are they?" The prat only grinned harder before looking Harry in the eye. "Well… if they were, I wouldn't be likely to tell you, would I, Potter?" I muttered the words 'sick' and 'fuck' before Hermione scoffed in disgust. "Oh, come on. Let's go and find the others." Without hesitation, I tugged Harry away from his enemy.

Like the coward he was, he called to us once we were a ways away. "Keep that big bushy head down, Granger!" The boys stopped, ready to strike, but Hermione barked at them, "Come on." And we were on our way once more.

"I'll bet you anything his dad is one of that masked lot." Ron all, but yelled.

"I can't believe that he's my cousin." I mumbled, but I could tell they all heard me by the way their eyes widened.

"Well, with any luck, the Ministry will catch him." I shook my head Hermione's faith in those idiots. "Sorry to say, but the Ministry's not very adept at catching wanted fathers."

* * *

><p>"Oh I can't believe this. Where have the others got to?" I looked around the clearing for Fred, George and Ginny, but I couldn't really see much.<p>

As we walked in deeper, we were swarmed by a group of French girls. "Ou est Madame Maxime? Nous l'avons perdue-" "Er- what?" asked Ron, but I rolled my eyes and said, "Aller loin. Nous n'avons pas vu que les maux de tete geant." Quickly, they walked away and I turned to the trio to see that they were all awestruck, except for Hermione who obviously had a good memory.

I shrugged at them before adding, "Beauxbatons… France. Or have you just gotten so used to me that you forgot I was a transfer student?" Ron shook his head and scoffed. "That's impossible." I rolled my eyes at his rude tone as he led us onward.

"Fred and George can't have gone that far." He lit his wand and soon after, Harry shouted, "Ah, no, I don't believe it… I've lost my wand!" It's never happened to me, but I'm sure the sensation was the same when Muggles lost their keys or wallet, and boy was it contagious.

I patted myself all over in panic, but calmed down once I felt it in my front hoodie pocket.

Ron and Hermione raised their wands, so we could see more of the ground. "The stadium was **huge**, Harry."

"Maybe it's back in the tent." offered Ron. "Maybe it fell out of your pocket when we were running." suggested Hermione.

"Yeah, maybe…" I could tell he was upset, but I didn't say anything, for we were under attack.

Something small popped out of the bushes, causing all four of us to jump. And for once, it felt good because I wasn't the only one this time.

It was a little female house elf who looked to be fighting the air around her. "There is bad wizards about!" she struggled to step forward as if she were in a wind tunnel. "People high- high in the air! Wink is getting out of the way!" Still stunned by her random appearance, we watched her fight her way out of the clearing and into the forest on the other side.

"What's up with her?" Ron wondered as he watched her small form disappear into the night. "Why can't she run properly?" I shrugged, but Harry was the one with the answer. "Bet she didn't ask permission to hide."

That sounded like hell to me. Whenever I wanted to do something, I just did. I can't remember the last time I asked anyone to allow me anything.

"You know, house elves get a **very** raw deal! It's slavery, that's what it is! That Mr. Crouch made her go up to the top of the stadium, and she was terrified, and he's got her bewitched so she can't even run when they start trampling tents! Why doesn't anyone do something about it?" I agreed with her, but she didn't have to complain about it at a time like this.

"Well, the elves are happy, aren't they? You heard old Winky back at the match… 'House elves is not supposed to have fun'… that's what she likes, being bossed around…" His wording and the way he left it open ended made it sound like a sexual innuendo to me, which honestly creeped me out for even thinking it.

"It's people like you, Ron, who prop up rotten and unjust systems, just because they're too lazy to-" A loud bang interrupted her rant which was perfect because I couldn't care less about wizarding politics.

"Let's just keep moving, shall we?" suggested a relieved Ron. I linked my arm with my silent brother's before replying, "Gladly."

As we walked through the clearing, I found myself disturbed by a group of goblins who were more concerned with a bag of gold than their chaotic surroundings.

Even further on, we saw young men fawning over three Veela and I scowled. Did no one give a damn about these masked intruders? "I pull down about a hundred sacks of Galleons a year!" One boy shouted.

"I'm a dragon killer for the Committee for the Disposal of Dangerous Creatures." "No, you're not!" yelled the guy next to him. "You're a dishwasher at the Leaky Cauldron… but I'm a vampire hunter, I've killed about ninety so far-" An even more unattractive suitor pushed through the both of them and said, "I'm about to become the youngest Minister of Magic, I am." I shook my head and heard Harry snort beside me.

"I know him. That's St-" "Did I tell you I've invented a broomstick that'll reach Jupiter?" Trying not to lose my wits, I chose not to even look at Ron in fear of spewing out insults of incompetence. "Honestly!" I heard Hermione say as I pulled Harry along for the umpteenth time this morning.

We had to have been walking for nearly ten minutes when everything got silent, only nature herself surrounding us. "I reckon we can just wait here, you know. We'll hear anyone coming a mile off." Before I could even nod in agreement, a man I didn't recognize jumped out of the tree in front of us.

"_Stupefy_!" The man went flying into the dark of the wood and I looked around rapidly to see if he had company.

"Adhara… That was Ludo Bagman. Head of Magical Games and Sports…"

* * *

><p><strong>Cal26lum: I'm pretty much updating this for you because you sounded so upset about that false alarm. <strong>

**Megirl97: I really like writing Quidditch chapters, but I don't think people will like them, so I'm glad you did. Oh, whatever, you're sweeter than that chapter. **


	8. The Dark Lord's Jolly Roger

**Disclaimer: I only own what you don't recognize from the books. And if you haven't read the books, you might want to get off the computer and get your head checked by a doctor.**

**A/N: I love all you guys. I really do. You just need to stop being so damn quiet. If I made a typo, then tell me. If you are confused as to where I'm going with this, hit me up and I might give you a hint or two. Just let me know... anything. I'm here. Review, message, whatever. I just really dislike silent readers. I want to hear whatever it is that you have to tell me. If you are reading this fic, you own a part of my love and I don't think it's right to love strangers. So let's change that please.**

Solemnly, I trudged through the forest as I looked for my unintended victim. I sighed as I looked ahead, the light of my wand exposing the soles of well polished shoes.

His long robes held horizontal stripes of a color I couldn't quite make out. His shoulders were broad, stomach round and his nose didn't match his face.

My breathing quickened and I shouted before I was completely lost it. "I found him!"

We split up to look for Bagman, Harry having gone with Ron, due to his lack of a wand.

Not taking my eyes off him, I heard them running towards me and Hermione whisper "_Ennervate_".

It wasn't until he was being observed with three lumos lit wands that he began to stir. "Who's that?" He mumbled, blinking against the bright light. "What's happened?" he groaned, taking note of his positioning on the ground and of his surroundings. "What are you doing here, all alone?"

I gave a relieved sigh, looking to the sky and placing a hand on my chest. **He didn't know! **

"Well- there's a sort of riot going on." explained Ron. Bagman eyed me curiously as I tried to contain my excitement before saying, "What?" I didn't give him amnesia, did I?

"At the campsite… some people have got hold of a family of Muggles…" "Bollocks! Damn them!" And he was gone. Disapparated, I mean.

"Not exactly on top of things, Mr. Bagman, is he?" Hermione frowned, but I clapped while doing a little jig. "Thank Merlin for that!"

"He was a great beater, though. The Winbourne Wasps won the league-" "If any of you utter a word…" Harry and Hermione nodded as we sat down in a patch of dirt, Ron not agreeing to anything and I didn't blame him. He and I weren't the closest, but I knew just how to handle him if he told anyone.

* * *

><p>I laid on the ground, putting my hands behind my head and used my hoodie as a pillow as we waited. I needed to fight off this sleep, and the silence wasn't exactly helping. "I hope the others are okay." As soon as the words left her mouth, I found myself rid of the hold of slumber. Now I was locked in the arms of worry.<p>

We had been looking for the Weasleys this whole time, but this was the first I'd thought about my boyfriend since the attack. "They'll be fine." Ron assured.

But what if he wasn't fine? What if he was out there fighting? What if he wasn't as good with his wand as he was with his broom?

I sat up quickly, wanting-**NO**- craving a distraction from my thoughts.

Ron and Hermione gave me a concerned look, but Harry was lost in his thoughts, a smirk on his face. "Imagine if your dad catches Lucius Malfoy. He's always said he'd like to get something on him." Ron liked the sound of that, a smirk developing on his face as well. "That'd wipe the smirk off old Draco's face, all right."

"Those poor Muggles, though. What if they can't get them down?" That was the first time I'd ever heard Hermione's voice quaver and because of it's rarity, I became nervous as well. "They will. They'll find a way." Ron said with a tone of finality, but she just went on. "Mad, though, to do something like that when the whole Ministry's out here tonight! I mean, how do they expect to get away with it? Do you think they've been drinking, or are they just-" She shut up, distracted by something behind her, a noise possibly.

We all followed her gaze, seeing nothing, but I did hear something… steps. **Definitely** steps.

I pulled out my wand and as if they could see my actions, the footsteps halted. "Hello?" Harry called out, glancing at me to make sure I wouldn't make the mistake of hexing a Ministry Member into oblivion again. I gave him a nod, silently assuring that I wouldn't… unless it was Fudge, of course.

"Who's there?" He called again and we waited, hearing the person shift.

"_MORSMORDE_!" I had never heard that spell before. Not from my mother, not from a textbook, not in either wizarding institution, not from my father. Not from anywhere. And I found myself wishing for blissful ignorance as I witnessed what it conjured.

"What the-?" Ron gasped as a green light whizzed through the sky, creating a wicked contrast between black and green.

A skull had formed from it, a snake uncoiling from its open mouth like a flax tongue.

I gulped, not knowing what it meant, but it didn't give off a warm vibe like the bat signal did.

We were wrong with thinking we wouldn't be able to hear anyone for miles, because the forest was now alive with screams.

"Who's there?" I could yell at my brother for being stupid, later. Getting him to safety was far more important. "Come on!" I yelled before dragging him away with all my might.

"What's the matter?" he asked without a shred of panic, only allowing me to move him a few steps.

"It's the Dark Mark, Harry!" Hermione shouted, helping me pull him. "You-Know-Who's sign!"

"Voldemorts-?" Was he not hearing those screams? "Harry, come on!"

Just when I finally get him running, many thundering pops erupted around us. I pulled him behind me, but my efforts were futile, the four of us in the middle of a circle of wizards, all with their wands drawn. "Duck!" Harry yelled, pulling the three of us to the ground. "_STUPEFY_!" They shouted, echoing the spell I performed earlier.

My unruly locks flew around my face as the magic soared by inches above our heads. "Stop! STOP! **That's my son!**" I lifted my head from Hermione's elbow to see a weary Mr. Weasley walking over.

"Ron- Adhara- Harry- Hermione- are you all right?" "Out of the way, Arthur." snapped one of the many Ministry workers who stepped forward. "Which of you did it?" His eyes darted between us, lingering on me the most. "Which of you conjured the Dark Mark?"

I shook my head as Harry pointed up to the green skull that was still lingering in the sky. "We didn't do that!" "We didn't do anything. What did you want to attack us for?" Ron added in an attempt to save our skin.

"Do not lie, sir!" demanded the same Ministry man, pointing his wand at Ron. "You have been discovered at the scene of the crime!" "That he didn't commit!" I stepped forward, not caring that his wand was now on me. "None of us did."

Moments passed with me staring down the old man before a witch intervened. "Barty. They're kids, Barty, they'd never have been able to-" "Where did the Mark come from?" Mr. Weasley asked, cutting to the chase.

"Over there," Hermione answered, pointing a few yards away. "There was someone behind the trees… they shouted words- an incantation-" "Oh, stood over there, did they? Said an incantation, did they? You seem very well informed about how that Mark is summoned, missy-" That Barty guy was the only one interrogating us, the rest of the Ministry had their wands pointed to the area Hermione told them.

"We're too late." said the witch who spoke up earlier. "They'll have Disapparated."

"I don't think so." differed Cedric Diggory's pompous asshole of a father. "Our Stunners went right through those trees… There's a good chance we got them…"

"Amos, be careful!" some of them warned as he walked over into the suspected area. "Yes! We got them! There's someone here! Unconscious! It's- but- blimey…"

"You've got someone?" shouted the skeptic. "Who? Who is it?" In suspense, we watched him return with a small unmoving bundle in his arms. The sun wasn't out yet, but I could see that it was the house elf from earlier.

All the adults were staring at the paranoid geezer and it was then that I understood two things: That was Barty Crouch and this was his house elf. Winky, if I remember our conversation correctly.

"This- cannot- be." He stuttered. "No-" He walked over to the place where she had been found. "No point Mr. Crouch. There's no one else there."

Mr. Crouch paid Mr. Diggory no mind, pushing through the bushes and kicking up leaves.

"Bit embarrassing." voiced Diggory as he looked down at the elf in his arms before setting her on the ground. "Barty Crouch's house elf… I mean to say…" "Come off it, Amos." Mr. Weasley borderline demanded. "You don't seriously think it was the elf? The Dark Mark's a wizard's sign. It requires a wand."

"Yeah," Mr. Diggory nodded. "And she had a wand." "**What**?" Mr. Weasley questioned in disbelief. "Here, look." Diggory held up a wand to show him. "Had it in her hand. So that's clause three of the Code of Wand Use broken, for a start. No non-human creature is permitted to carry or use a wand."

Another loud pop signaled the apparition of Ludo Bagman joining us. "The Dark Mark!" he shouted before turning to his colleagues. "Who did it? Did you get them? Barty! What's going on?" Barty had returned to us, empty handed, just as I expected.

"Where have you been, Barty? Why weren't you at the match? Your elf was saving you a seat too- gulping gargoyles!" He shouted as he saw the house elf on the ground, where Diggory had placed her, moments before. "What happened to **her**?"

"I have been busy, Ludo. And my elf has been stunned." He looked awfully glum and didn't sound much better.

"Stunned? By you lot, you mean? But why-?" He answered his own question by looking between the elf, Barty Crouch and the Dark Mark.

"**No**! Winky? Conjure the Dark Mark? She wouldn't know how! She'd need a wand, for a start!" "And she had one." confirmed Mr. Diggory. "I found her holding one, Ludo. If it's all right with you, Mr. Crouch, I think we should hear what she's got to say for herself." Mr. Crouch paid him no mind and Mr. Diggory took that as a green light to point his wand at Winky and whisper "_Ennervate_!"

The house elf looked nervous as she sat up and took notice of who was surrounding her. Her eyes first settled on her reflection in Diggory's shoes. She continued her journey, looking up to his face and even further to get a good look at the Dark Mark above. I felt my heart ache as she gasped loudly before breaking out into erratic sobs. I'm sure she was clueless as to what had happened.

"Elf!" yelled Diggory the dickhole. "Do you know who I am? I am a member of the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures!" I wasn't quite sure she was listening, too busy rocking back and forth in the dirt. "As you see, elf, the Dark Mark was conjured here a short while ago. And you were discovered moment later, right beneath it! An explanation, if you please!"

"I-I-I is not doing it, sir! I is not knowing how, sir!" "You were found with a wand in your hand!" Diggory held it out for her to see and in an instant, Harry exclaimed, "Hey- that's mine!"

Mr. Diggory turned around with a doubtful expression as he faced my brother. "Excuse me?" "That's my wand!" Harry clarified. "I dropped it!" "You dropped it?" Diggory snapped. "Is this a confession? You threw it aside after you conjured the Mark?"

"Amos, think who you're talking to!" reprimanded Mr. Weasley. "Is Harry Potter likely to conjure the Dark Mark?" I crossed my arms in content as Diggory backed off.

"Er- of course not." He mumbled sheepishly. "Sorry… carried away…" "I didn't drop it there, anyway." said Harry sternly, his thumb pointing towards the area where Winky was found. "I missed it right after we got into the wood."

"So," Mr. Diggory started, glaring at the house elf at his feet. "You found this wand, eh, elf? And you picked it up and thought you'd have some fun with it, did you?"

"I is not doing magic with it, sir!" she squeaked as she flooded her cheeks with tears. "I is… I is… I is just picking it up sir! I is not making the Dark Mark, sir, I is not knowing how!"

"It wasn't her!" I found myself surprised at Hermione's outburst, not believing she had the nerve. "Winky's got a squeaky little voice, and the voice we heard doing the incantation was much deeper!" she turned to me and the boys for assistance.

"It didn't sound anything like Winky, did it?" Harry shook his head. "No, it definitely didn't sound like an elf."

"No, it didn't but what's the point. He's so deadest on turning her in, that he'll just propose she performed a spell to alter her voice!" All the adults gawked at me, silently agreeing with my statement about their ruthless coworker.

"Umm, yeah. It was a human voice." murmured Ron, no one really focusing on him at the moment.

Diggory's eyes struggled to pick their subject, Winky or me, not quite sure which one was the bigger threat. If I were him, I would put my money on me. "Well, we'll soon see." he scowled before carrying on. "There's a simple way of discovering the last spell a wand performed, elf, did you know that?" She shook her head 'no' giant ears flapping about.

I watched closely, squinting almost as the tip of Diggory's wand met Harry's. "_Prior Incantato_!" A puff of smoke burst between the two, creating an unmistakable mirror of the panic inducing skull in the sky.

I stifled a gasp while Hermione exuded one loudly. "_Deletrius_!" and like that, the ball of smoke was gone.

"So." Diggory started, almost cockily, causing Winky to convulse harder than ever. "I is not doing it! I is not, I is not knowing how! I is a good elf, I isn't using wands, I isn't knowing how!"

"**You've been caught red-handed, elf!**" erupted Diggory with a mix of anger, justice and of course, a sense of sick satisfaction. "**Caught with the guilty wand in your hand!**" "Amos," Loudly interrupted Mr. Weasley. "think about it… precious few wizards know how to do that spell… Where would she have learned it?"

After what seemed like an eternity of silence and him just standing by the entire time, Crouch decided to speak up. "Perhaps Amos is suggesting… that I routinely teach my servants to conjure the Dark Mark?" He seemed disgusted to even let the possibility pass his lips, but not as revolted as Diggory's reaction to it.

"Mr. Crouch… not… not at all…" "You have now come very close to accusing the two people in this clearing who are least likely to conjure that Mark! Harry Potter- and myself. I suppose you are familiar with that boy's story, Amos?" and from his defense, in my mind, a shred of respect was born for him.

"Of course- everyone knows-" he cautiously replied. "And I trust you remember the many proofs I have given over a long career, that I despise and detest the Dark Arts and those who practice them?" shouted Crouch with watery eyes. "Mr. Crouch, I- I never suggested you had anything to with it!" Diggory mumbled again, addressing his superior.

"If you accuse my elf, you accuse me, Diggory! Where else would she have learned to conjure it?" "She- she might've picked it up anywhere-" all the smugness now stripped from his tone. "Precisely, Amos," began Mr. Weasley. "She might have picked it up anywhere… Winky?" He had said her name kindly, but still she visibly flinched.

"Where did you find Harry's wand?" Nervously, she toyed with the hem of her tea towel, but in reality, it was more like she was tearing it. "I- I is finding it… finding it there, sit… there… in the trees, sir…" satisfied with her answer, Mr. Weasley turned to address his fellow Ministry members. "You see, Amos? Whoever conjured the Mark could have Disapparated right after they'd done it, leaving Harry's wand behind. A clever thing to do, not using their own wand, which could have betrayed them. And Winky here had the misfortune to come across the wand moments later and pick it up."

"But then, she'd have been only a few feet away from the real culprit!" Mr. Diggory quipped, his voice picking up an attitude again. "Elf? Did you see anyone?" She shook harder and shuffled her gaze from Diggory, Bagman, then to Crouch. "I is seeing no one, sir… no one…"

"Amos," said Mr. Crouch, swiftly cutting into the cross-examination. "I am fully aware that, in the ordinary cause f events, you would want to take Winky into your department for questioning. I ask you, however, to allow me to deal with her." I could tell by Diggory's blank demeanor that he wanted to oppose and definitely would have if there were no such thing as rank.

"You may rest assured that she will be punished." Crouch added, clenching his jaw as if it were a dam for his emotions.

"M-m-master… M-m-master, p-p-please…"

Slave. The word echoed in my head, bouncing from lobe to lobe, forcing me to wish that sacrificing what little I had in my Gringotts account to whoever could abolish this madness.

"Winky has behaved tonight in a manner I would not have believed possible. I told her to remain in the tent. I told her to stay there while I went to sort out the trouble. And I find that she disobeyed me. **This means clothes!**" My head jerked back in befuddlement as to how that could be considered a punishment.

"No!" she begged, throwing herself at his feet. "No, master! Not clothes, not clothes!"

"But she was frightened!" I furrowed my brow at my closest girl friend, wondering why she out of all people was opposed to an elf receiving proper clothing to replace her ratty old tea rag. "Your elf's scared of heights, and those wizards in masks were levitating people! You can't blame her for wanting to get out of their way!"

Adopting a very Malfoyesque sneer, Crouch backed away from Winky as if she were a piece of rubbish. "I have no use for a house elf who disobeys me." He spat, glaring at Hermione. "I have no use for a servant who forgets what is due to her master and to her master's reputation." By now, Winky was crying loud enough to drown out the night's ambiance.

"Well, I think I'll take my lot back to the tent if nobody's got any objections. Amos, that wand's told us all it can- if Harry could have it back, please-" Mr. Weasley proposed and Diggory handed it to Harry who stuffed it in his pocket, not taking his hands out after.

"Come on, you four." guided Mr. Weasley, but one of us wouldn't budge.

"Hermione!" she had been staring at Winky with a strange expression before following the rest of us.

Seeing that his hands were plunged deep within his pockets, I decided not to disturb Harry. Besides, I hadn't left his side since the attacks started. I could see how he could view it as overbearing and I didn't want him to think of me that way.

On the other hand, Hermione seemed like she needed a comforting hand on her shoulder. "What's going to happen to Winky?" she asked, practically reading my mind. "I don't know." Mr. Weasley replied.

"The way they were treating her! Mr. Diggory calling her elf all the time. And Mr. Crouch! He knows she didn't do it and he's still going to sack her! He didn't care how frightened she'd been or how upset she was- it was like she wasn't even human!"

"Well, she's not." Ron stated truthfully, but it had been obvious in the context Hermione used the word 'human', that she was fully aware that Winky wasn't a human. But honestly, I shouldn't be surprised. Ron's as dense as they come.

"That doesn't mean that she hasn't got feelings, Ron. It's disgusting the way-" "Hermione, I agree with you." Mr. Weasley interrupted. "But now is not the time to discuss elf rights. I want to get back to the tent as fast as we can. What happened to the others?" Glad that he dissolved the tension, I decided to take the honor of answering him.

"Your pride and joy here decided to play around in the dirt and we got separated." I could hear Hermione 'humph' in satisfaction as Ron glowered before facing his father. "Dad, why was everyone so uptight about that skull thing?" I rolled my eyes at his obliviousness while his dad answered him curtly. "I'll explain everything back at the tent."

We picked up our pace and I could tell that Hermione was still tense, so I genuinely tried making her feel better. "Look on the bright side, Hermione. She's just getting fired and he's gonna give her clothes for compensation. I thought clothes was code for execution." She stopped in her tracks as I gave a soft chuckle of relief. Her eyes didn't leave me for a while, causing me to shut up and close my mouth, obviously I had said something wrong and she only confirmed that by stomping off after the guys. "Wait! Does clothes not mean compensation?"

* * *

><p>At the edge of the wood, was a large crowd of disheveled magical folk, most of them running forward at the sight of us. "What's going on in there?"<p>

"Who conjured it?"

"Arthur- it's not **Him**?"

"Of course it's not him." Mr. Weasley debunked. "We don't know who it was; it looks like they Disapparated. Now, excuse me, please, I want to go to bed." Amen to that. Just by him mentioning it, I could feel the adrenaline subsiding and my lids growing heavy.

We pushed through the weary witches and wizards until we were back at the campsite. It was eerily quiet and there was still smoke coming out of the tents that were now singed.

Down the path, I saw the dashing Charlie poke his head out of the main tent, earning a tired smile from me. "Dad, what's going on? Fred, George and Ginny got back okay, but the others-" "I've got them here." assured Mr. Weasley being the first to enter the tent.

Other than Bill's bleeding arm, Percy's bloody nose, the twins and Ginny looking traumatized and Charlie's ripped shirt revealing his impressive set of abs, everything seemed to be exactly as we left it. Which was a relief, because it was a rental.

"Did you get them, Dad? The person who conjured the Mark?" Mr. Weasley shook his head at his first born. "No. We found Barty Crouch's elf holding Harry's wand, but we're none the wiser about who actually conjured the Mark." As expected, he was met with a chorus of 'What?'s from his battered children.

"Harry's wand?" said Fred.

"**Mr. Crouch's elf?**" Percy almost sounded as offended as he looked.

As a team, the five of us explained what happened to the remaining six. "Well, Mr. Crouch is quite right to get rid of an elf like that! Running away when he's expressly told her not to… embarrassing him in front of the whole Ministry… how would that have looked, if she'd been brought up in front of the Department for the Regulation and Control-" The whole time, I had been shaking my head, trying to get the blithering idiot to cease his rant so that I wouldn't have to hear Hermione whine again for the rest of the night, but who was I kidding?

"She didn't do anything- she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time!" I had expected her to tell him off, but I didn't expect her to yell. Back at school, she seemed to enjoy the presence of the smartarse Weasley more so than any of the others.

"Hermione, a wizard in Mr. Crouch's position can't afford a house elf who's going to run amok with a wand!" Percy defended at the same volume. "She didn't run amok! She just picked it up off the ground!"

"Look, can someone just explain what that skull thing was?" I would have at least chuckled at Ron's outburst if I didn't know he was serious. "It wasn't hurting anyone… Why is it such a big deal?" I found that simply incredible. If you needed to know any symbol in the wizarding world, that was the one to know.

"It's the Dark Lord's Jolly Roger!" Ron just stared at me, obviously not a fan of pirate literature.

"I told you, it's You-Know-Who's symbol, Ron. I read about it in _The Rise and Fall of the Dark Arts_." clarified Hermione. "And it hasn't been seen for thirteen years." I didn't need to do the math to know what happened then. "Of course people panicked… it was almost like seeing You-Know-Who back again."

Ron frowned at his dad, not appearing enlightened at all. "I don't get it. I mean… it's still only a shape in the sky…" "Ron, You-Know-Who and his followers sent the Dark Mark into the air whenever they killed. The terror it inspired… you have no idea, you're too young. Just picture coming home and finding the Dark Mark hovering over your house and knowing what you're about to find inside…" I caught Mr. Weasley flinch at his own words. "Everyone's worst fear… the very worst…"

I watched Bill remove the bedding from his toned arm and no more blood followed. "Well, it didn't help us tonight, whoever conjured it. It scared the Death Eaters away the moment they saw it. They all Disapparated before we got near enough to unmask any of them. We caught the Robertses before they hit the ground, though. They're having their memories modified right now."

Harry squinted at the fine Weasley in confusion. "Death Eaters. What are Death Eaters?" "It's what You-Know-Who's supporters called themselves." Bill explained. "I think we saw what's left of them tonight- the ones who managed to keep themselves out of Azkaban, anyway."

"We can't prove it was them, Bill. Though it probably was." agreed Mr. Weasley. "Yeah, I bet it was! Dad, we met Draco Malfoy in the woods, and he as good as told us his dad was one of the nutters in the masks! And we all know the Malfoy's were right in with You-Know-Who!"

Not acknowledging his best friend's rant, Harry started to talk. "But what were Voldemort's supporters-" Everyone flinched, but me, being comfortable enough to say it. But now was not the setting. I did not have my parents, Dumbledore or Madame Maxime to protect me. AND there was a bloody Dark Mark in the sky!

"Sorry." he apologized before getting back on track. "What were You-Know-Who's supporters up to, levitating Muggles? I mean, what was the point?"

"The point?" Mr. Weasley laughed, void of emotion. "Harry, that's their idea of fun. Half the Muggle killings back when You-Know-Who was in power were done for fun. I suppose they had a few drinks tonight and couldn't resist reminding us all that lots of them are still at large. A nice little reunion for them." he finished as if he had a bad taste in his mouth.

"But if they were the Death Eaters, why did they Disapparate when they saw the Dark Mark? They'd have been pleased to see it, wouldn't they?" "Use your brain, Ron." teased Bill and I felt like a dunce because I didn't understand either. "If they really were Death Eaters, they worked very hard to keep out of Azkaban when You-Know-Who lost power, and told all sorts of lies about him forcing them to kill and torture people. I bet they'd be even more frightened than the rest of us to see him come back. They denied they'd ever been involved with him when he lost his powers, and went back to their daily lives… I don't reckon he'd be over-pleased with them, do you?"

"Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait. So which one is it? They were shoving it in our faces that they were still around to carry out the work of the Dark Lord or they're terrified of the man they worship? I don't get it." Bill shrugged and I let Hermione propose her question.

"So… whoever conjured the Dark Mark… were they doing it to show support for the Death Eaters, or to scare them away?" "I have no idea." answered Mr. Weasley, looking between the both of us. "But I'll tell you this… it was only the Death Eaters who ever knew how to conjure it. I'd be very surprised if the person who did it hadn't been a Death Eater once, even if they're not now…"

I nodded, blinking before asking one more thing. "So that… Mark… could have been a blessing in disguise?" Mr. Weasley looked down at me fondly before giving a tired smile. "Precisely." he whispered to me before addressing the entire lot.

"Now listen, it's very late and if your mother hears about what's happened, she'll be worried sick. We'll get a few more hours of sleep and then try and get an early Portkey out of here."

* * *

><p><strong>Cal26lum: Thank you very much. Most of this fic follows the books exactly with a little bit from the movies thrown in from time to time.<strong>

**Megirl97: Can we just agree to disagree that I don't deserve your sugary sweetness? I'm glad you're following where I'm going with this and I hope this chapter answered a lot of your questions.**


	9. Worried Sick

**Disclaimer: Stop saying I write like J.K. You are aware that I am using her plot and dialogue right? And I build off from that!**

**A/N: Things are picking up, but the readers definitely aren't. That's why it took this one so long to come out.**

Because of how long I spent tossing and turning, I snuck into the main tent, set on just sitting at the dining room table until everyone else woke up.

Through the loud snoring, I could hear the tell tale signs that someone was awake. The sheets were shuffling very frequently and there was even a frustrated sigh.

Luckily, it was only Harry, who was kind enough to scoot over so I could hop in.

I didn't think it was going to be a big deal, but I could see a hint of disappointment on Mr. Weasley's face when he woke us up in the morning.

* * *

><p>I didn't have any breakfast thing time around so the portkey didn't upset my stomach. We didn't talk much on our way back and having been used to the constant silence, I jumped at the distant shrieking.<p>

"Oh thank goodness, thank goodness!" Mr. Weasley was on the front lawn screaming her head off with a copy of what I was sure was the _Daily Prophet_ in her hand. Luckily, they didn't have any neighbors.

"Arthur- I've been so worried- **so worried**-" she released her husband, letting the newspaper drop to the ground before examining her children. "You're all right. You're alive… oh **boys**…" she grabbed Fred and George so tight, I was sure they'd snap if it weren't for their Quidditch muscles. It looked painful, but it made me wonder if my mum would be half as passionate if she were here.

"Ouch! Mum- you're strangling us-" "I shouted at you before you left!" she exclaimed, her voice cracking. "It's all I've been thinking about! What if You-Know-Who had got to you, and the last thing I ever said to you was that you didn't get enough O.W.L.s? Oh Fred…George…"

"What are you doing here?" I heard Ron all but demand to someone in the doorway.

I turned to see Oliver smirking, leaning against the doorframe. His hair looked like it hadn't been bothered with and his lids seemed a little heavy. "Oliver… what are you doing here?" I was glad to see that he was ok, but it didn't outweigh my confusion.

Unlacing Harry's and my fingers, I walked over to rest my hand on Oliver's chest while he kissed my forehead. "We left right before the attacks and I wanted to see if you made it out as well."

We stepped inside, heading to the living room while everyone else went to the kitchen. "As soon as I got word, I came here, assuming this is where you'd be for the rest of the summer. Mrs. Weasley and I have been up since two, worried sick." I nodded, then stared at him in disbelief that he would do that for me. It was almost overwhelming.

"You didn't have to do that. I'm all right you see. I would've written you or something… to let you know." He looked oddly expectant, like he wanted me to say more, but out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ron, Harry and Hermione ascending the first flight of stairs, so I called out, "Harry?"

I thought he didn't hear me because I didn't say it loud enough, but I wasn't exactly comfortable with yelling in someone else's household.

I prepared to get up, but the footsteps stopped and one pair got louder before I could see Harry crouching enough so I could see him do the come here gesture.

"Come on!" Despite his refusal of eye contact, I gave Oliver a sympathetic look before charging up the stairs as fast as my sleep deprived body would let me.

* * *

><p>"What's up, Harry?" asked Ron milliseconds after I shut the door.<p>

"There's something I haven't told you." Initially, I found myself upset that he would keep secrets, but that was short lived once I reminded myself that I was in no position to judge.

"On Saturday morning, I woke up with my scar hurting again." I tuned out Hermione's immediate rambling, just glaring at the floor. "What does it mean?" I held back a dull smile after saying it, just having asked Oliver the same thing not even a day ago.

"Whenever it hurts, it's because of **Him**." I nodded, not wanting to feel even more out of the loop if he had to explain it all to me.

"But- he wasn't there, was he? You-Know-Who? I mean- last time your scar kept hurting, he was at Hogwarts, wasn't he?" Ron's question was news to me.

"I'm sure he wasn't on Privet Drive. But I was dreaming about him… him and Peter- you know, Wormtail. I can't remember it all now, all of it now, but they were plotting to kill… someone." I had expected him to say himself, and I released the breath I didn't know I was holding when he hadn't. Because if he had, it would have only made matters more real.

"It was only a dream. Just a nightmare." Ron nodded surely. "Yeah, but was it, though?" Harry wondered, looking out of the window as he spoke to us, most likely unaware of how dramatic he was being.

"It's weird, isn't it?... My scar hurts, and three days later the Death Eaters are on the march and Voldemort's sign's up in the sky again." "Don't-say-his-name!" Ron hissed and I couldn't help but giggle.

"Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort. Voldemort…" "And remember what Professor Trelawney said?" Harry went on, ignoring the two of us. "At the end of last year?"

Hermione's frown morphed into an amused expression as she let out a very unlady like snort. "Oh Harry, you aren't going to pay attention to anything that old fraud says?"

"You weren't there. You didn't hear her. This time was different. I told you, she went into a trance- a real one. And she said the Dark Lord would rise again… greater and more terrible than ever before… and he'd manage it because his servant was going to go back to him… and that night Wormatil escaped." The creases in my forehead deepened as I thought back to that night. I was certain I stepped on him hard enough to injure him enough make that grass his resting place.

"Why were you asking if Hedwig had come, Harry? Are you expecting a letter?" Hermione asked. "I told Sirius about my scar. I'm waiting for his answer." He turned to me as he said it, but all I could do was shrug. I had no idea if dad received his letter without me.

"Good thinking! I bet Sirius'll know what to do!" Honestly, I don't think he would. Dad was pretty much an open book, constantly telling me his very tragic life story and the beginning of mine and Harry's, but not once did he mention Harry's scar.

"I hoped he would get back to me quickly." His eyes didn't leave me, pretty much guilting me into saying something.

"The longest we've stayed home is like two days. He's definitely back on the run now, but he didn't tell me where, which is probably a good thing." I could tell he wasn't satisfied with the answer, but he let it be.

"Come and have a game of Quidditch in the Orchard, Harry. Come on- three on three, Bill and Charlie and Fred and George will play… You can try out the Wrongski Feint…" "Ron, Harry doesn't want to play Quidditch right now… He's worried, and he's tired… We all need to go to bed…" Hermione wrongfully spoke for him.

"Yeah, I want to play Quidditch." he said in disregard of Hermione before pointing to me. "Adhara, do you want to join?" I wrapped an arm around his shoulder before saying, "Sure, just let me get Oliver."

* * *

><p>I caught him just as he was heading out the door and practically had to beg him to stay, but I finally got him to fall for my charm. I wanted to spend at least a little bit of time with him since he came all this way.<p>

The match had been Bill, Harry, Ron and me against Fred, George, Charlie and Oliver. Surprisingly, even with Harry and I, we had lost, but I suspect it had something to do with us just having fun instead of playing seriously.

Charlie was a swell seeker and obviously more experienced than his replacement. Fred and George were decent chasers, but Oliver was the biggest problem, not letting anything past him.

Oliver stayed until after lunch, having strolled around the garden together while everyone else went to sleep. While kicking the occasional gnome, I was ashamed to find that it had been the most time we ever spent alone.

There really wasn't much to do over the next week, but I still enjoyed myself. The only time I felt down is when I got an owl from Mum saying she was glad I was safe. Nothing more.

Other than the pleasure I received from their warmth and hospitality, I was really appreciating how often Mrs. Weasley was making us eat.

Hermione mostly opted to read instead, while Harry, Ron and I stuffed our faces every few hours or so.

Being a girl, I really should have been more conscious about how much I was consuming, but every single thing just tasted so good.

At the moment, I was stuffing my face with a corn muffin when I saw Harry standing in front of the Weasley family clock. I hated looking at it because it made me extremely jealous.

One would think that I would've stopped feeling like this after dad and everything, but if anything, my envy had increased tenfold.

I still didn't have that feel of a solid institution of a family. I mean, I had a mum, dad, brother and even a godfather, but I was never with more than two of them at a time.

The closest thing I've had to a family reunion was when we were in the Shrieking Shack when Harry saved my life and unfortunately Peter Pettigrew's as well.

Finishing my muffin, I put an arm around Harry's middle, walking him to the living room where the older boys were having Ministry talk with their mother. Bill multitasking while playing Ron in a game of chess. "Rita Skeeter never makes anyone look good. Remember, she interviewed all the Gringotts' Charm Breakers once and called me a 'long haired pillock'?" I made a face at this reporter he was describing, but then I realized it wasn't her fault she was blind. She **had** to be blind. Right?

"Well, it is a bit long, dear. If you'd just let me-" "**No**, mum." I smiled at her persistence against his even stronger resistance.

I took a deep breath of the rain smell that had filled the poorly insulated house before taking a seat on the floor next to Ginny who was mending an old book with some spellotape. She gave me a smile before returning to her work. On the other side of the room, Hermione was getting a head start on her copy of _The Standard Book of Spells, Grade 4 _which Mrs. Weasley picked up for us at Diagon Alley. Harry had picked up his broom polishing kit, no doubt planning on testing some of the techniques I taught him. Charlie was playing around with something that involved flames and the twins were in the corner, writing and whispering.

"What are you two up to?" Mrs. Weasley asked, not hiding her suspicion. "Homework." Fred answered in a tone of faux confidence.

"Don't be ridiculous, you're still on holiday." "Yeah, we've left it a bit late." said George.

"You're not by any chance writing out a new order form, are you?" she accused. "You wouldn't be thinking of restarting Weasley's Wizard Wheezes, by any chance?"

"Now, mum." started a pouty Fred. "If the Hogwarts Express crashed tomorrow and George and I died, how would you feel to know that the last thing we ever heard from you was an unfounded accusation?" We all broke into laughter, Mrs. Weasley the hardest.

"Oh your father's coming!" My head jerked to the clock, seeing the longest hand land on 'home'. He called out her name to which she replied with, "Coming, Arthur!"

She disappeared into the kitchen, only to return moments later with her husband who was holding a dinner tray in his hands. "Well, the fat's really on the fire now." He began, taking a seat in the armchair next to the fire. "Rita Skeeter's been ferreting around all week, looking for more Ministry mess-ups to report. And now she's found out about poor old Bertha going missing, so that'll be the headline in the _Prophet_ tomorrow. I told Bagman he should have sent someone to look for her ages ago." "Mr. Crouch has been saying it for weeks and weeks." Percy added pretentiously.

"Crouch is very lucky Rita hasn't found out about Winky." Mr. Weasley quipped back. "There'd be a week's worth of headlining on his house elf being caught holding the wand that conjured the Dark Mark."

"I thought we were all agreed that that elf, while irresponsible, did not conjure the Mark?" snapped Percy.

"If you ask me, Mr. Crouch is very lucky no one at the Daily Prophet knows how mean he is to elves!" Hermione countered, continuing her previous argument from last week. "Now look here, Hermione! A high-ranking Ministry official like Mr. Crouch deserves unswerving obedience from his servants-" "His **slave**, you mean!" Barely into the argument and she was already resembling a banshee. "Because he didn't pay Winky, did he?"

"I think you'd all better go upstairs and check that you've packed properly! Come on now, all of you…" I rubbed Hermione's back as I led her up the stairs, trying to quell her passion.

I ushered her in the room, Ginny closing the door behind us. "I cannot stand his impenetrable dedication to such a crooked man." Ginny shrugged at her before walking over to her trunk. "None of us do. He and dad have never argued this much. The Ministry's turning him into even more of a prat if possible."

Hermione sighed, her shoulders sagging as she sat down on her bed. "House elves are treated so poorly, I've never felt so helpless."

Not wanting to hear any more of this political nonsense, I hurriedly changed the subject. "Hermione, let me see the _formal attire_ you bought that was on our supplies list." She perked up at the request, rushing to her closet to retrieve it for me.

Ginny and I couldn't help but to smile as she turned around, holding the dress to her body.

It was long and pink with a petal like fringe that faded into a light purple and it even had a cute little lavender bow at the empire line. It was gorgeous.

"Ginny, I've got some bad news." she raised her brows as she turned to me, curiosity written all over her porcelain face. "No matter what our dresses look like, we're going to look like a pair of mandrake roots next to this one, that's for sure."

The two of us burst into laughter as Hermione blushed, putting down the dress. "Enough with the teasing. Let's see your dress, Adhara."

I shrugged, pulling out the garment bag from the closet, opening it for the girls to see. "Nothing much, got it from London as soon as I got home from 'vacation'." I smiled at their expressions as I held it up to them.

"Nothing much?" Hermione mocked. "How do you plan on breathing?" I smirked at Ginny before replying,

"I don't."

* * *

><p><strong>Megirl97: The crazier the better. That's how I like my Potterheads. haha, I didn't believe solemnly was spelled right either, but it actually is. Microsoft Word, Google AND my Marauders coffe cup told me so.<strong>

**Cal26lum: Thank you, but I think it's more so her dialogue that makes you think so compared to my actual writing. **

**No Hugs Peach: I explained this to you in person, but I'll do it again. The only wizarding culture Adhara has is from school and I don't think the guys she hung out with at Beauxbatons were interested about telling her about house elves and what not. She only knows slightly more than Harry about magic and even though her mom works at the Ministry, when has she ever had a full conversation with her? Knowing what the word mudblood means is far more likely to be known than the treatment of house elves. And as for your other question, since when does her mom care that much about her?**


	10. You're JOKING!

**Disclaimer: If you've read through TOTD and this, and you STILL think I own Harry Potter, you've got mental problems man.**

**A/N: I just want to say Happy 23rd Birthday to Rupert Grint! He's the main reason I loved Harry Potter when it started off, but then Harry, Sirius, Snape, Luna and Tonks started stealing the spotlight. But I digress. He's the reason I'm updating, so thank him by doing something Ron Weasley related after you read this! **

**By the way, this is the chapter where the ball actually gets rolling. More Adhara meaning more pranks, wit, anger and just plot in general. Sorry for waiting until chapter ten for something to actually happen, but the 4th book starts off really slow and there wasn't much I could do about it if I wanted to stay true to the books.**

**Oh, and one more thing, I got into Pottermore... but I really really don't agree with the house I got in.**

I woke up early to doll myself up for King's Cross this morning. Not caring that I was wearing a sundress, on the way downstairs, I sweet talked Fred into giving me a piggy back ride down the annoyingly long flight of stairs.

"-someone tried to break into his house last night." Mrs. Weasley's voice sounded not too far away, in the kitchen perhaps. "Mad-Eye Moody? Isn't that the nutter-" "Your father thinks very highly of Mad-Eye Moody."

I hopped down from Fred's back now that we were on the first level, accidentally grazing his neck with my fingernails. "Yeah, well, Dad collects plugs, doesn't he?" Fred added quietly, swatting the hand that was trying to inspect the damage. "Birds of a feather…"

I made a face at him as we sat down next to George and Harry respectively. "Moody was a great Wizard in his time." Bill stated sensitively. "He's an old friend of Dumbledore's isn't he?" asked Charlie rhetorically.

"Dumbledore's not what you'd call normal, though, is he? I mean, I know he's a genius and everything…" "Who is Mad-Eye?" Fred shook his head at me for interrupting him and from here, I could see the three pink welts on his neck. They weren't bold in texture or color, but for once in my life, I could tell the difference between the two of them.

"He's retired, used to work at the Ministry. I met him once when Dad took me in to work with him. He was an auror- one of the best… a Dark wizard catcher." I held back a look of envy as Charlie went on. My mother **never** took me to work with her. "Half the cells in Azkaban are full because of him. He made himself loads of enemies, though… the families of people he caught, mainly… and I heard he's been getting really paranoid in his old age. Doesn't trust anyone anymore. Sees Dark wizards everywhere." He sounded amazing, like a seasoned Dark Knight, well off his rocker.

After breakfast, Bill and Charlie agreed to see us off at King's Cross, but to no one's surprise, Percy was more concerned about work. "I just can't justify taking more time off at the moment. Mr. Crouch is really starting to rely on me." I rolled my eyes, following the twins out the door.

"Yeah, you know what, Percy?" George started, squaring his jaw. "I reckon he'll know your name soon." I laughed quietly to myself as they shared a high five as Percy stomped up the stairs.

The lawn was wet from the constant dreary weather ever since the World Cup and it served as a perfect time killer as I kicked my flip flops across the rain soaked blades.

My bare leg froze mid swing as I saw three Muggle taxis pull up in front of the house. They looked downright intimidated at the pile of seven trunks and the ten of us.

Pig was screeching at the top of his tiny lungs as the cab driver picked up his cage. I thought that would be the peak of the mountain, but all hell broke loose when the sound of fireworks went off in Fred's trunk, scaring the man who was carrying it enough to drop it, which frightened Crookshanks enough to cling to his leg, nails fully protruding from his paws.

Even on the way there, he hadn't calmed down at all. Still spooked, leaving Ron, Harry, Hermione and I with numerous bleeding cuts across our arms and legs.

And the day only got better as it started to pour again before we even got into the station. I cursed myself for gussying up, but Oliver had promised to see me off and between his reserve team and Hogwarts, I wasn't sure when we'd see each other again.

I sighed deeply as Harry and Ron went through the pillar first, reminding myself that it wouldn't hurt at all.

"I'm sure Oliver won't mind." I smiled at Hermione as I gripped the handle of my cart and together we entered through it.

I couldn't help but continue to smile as I saw the big steam engine train that matched my house colors. I rushed to put away my belongings so that I could get to the impossible task of finding my boyfriend.

"Adhara!" I heard someone shout as soon as I hopped off the train.

There he stood, not a few feet away from the Weasleys. He was dry as a bone while I was certain I still looked like I had just taken a dip in the Black Lake.

I approached him hesitantly, not sure if he would mind me hugging him. "Come 'ere." He beckoned, pulling me into his strong arms.

Now that I knew he didn't care, I got on my tip toes to give him a kiss. We didn't waste much time getting into it which I liked, but something felt off. He wasn't holding me as tight as usual, yet he didn't seem so willing for our lips to part.

"You're beautiful… so beautiful… and words can' explain how lucky I feel to have had you as my girlfriend." "Had?" I muttered, but he paid me no mind.

"Honestly, I just consider it ill timin'. I mean, you're still in school and I'm on the reserves- all of which is just a fraction of the problem compared to not being allowed to be your date -and the tournament-" "Tournament!" I exclaimed, but he quickly hushed me.

"Adhara, within a short period o' time, you have gone from beautiful to stunning and I would be a fool to think I'd be the only man to notice." He took a quick glance over my shoulder where I knew Harry, Ron, Hermione, Ginny and the twins were saying their goodbyes.

"Listen, if this has anything to do with Harry and I-" Without warning, he pulled my face towards his in the softest kiss, which I tried my hardest to savor.

"This term, just promise me you'll have the time of your life."

* * *

><p>I sat in the cold compartment, in the same corner Lupin had sat in the previous year, which only made me more sullen as I shivered, focusing on the rainfall, not wanting to face the fact that I had just been dumped.<p>

I shouldn't be surprised though. Just before I let him know that I fancied him, he believed Harry and I to be a couple and afterwards, I didn't put in much effort to keep him assured.

My free time of the last week of school was divided evenly between the two and I'm sure that it had been written all over my face that I would have preferred to watch the World Cup with Harry.

For all I know, the straw that broke the camel's back was probably me shouting at the top of my lungs that I wanted Harry on my team when we played Quidditch at the Weasley's.

OH! And let's not forget, I chose to run upstairs with Harry instead of giving two shits that he had been worried sick about me. I had been a horrible girlfriend.

"What's the matter, Adhara?" asked a concerned Hermione, placing her hand on my knee. "I hate not being able to tell anybody." "I beg your pardon?"

I sighed before elaborating a bit louder. "If I could have told Oliver that Harry was my god brother, he wouldn't have thought I fancied him."

"And he broke up with you for that?" Harry asked.

"Well at least he gave you a kiss to remember him by… and he didn't do it over post." It was the tone in which she said it that made me break out into a Cheshire grin.

"You lot have never been kissed before, have you?" I knew that my accusation had been confirmed when Hermione blushed and the boys averted my gaze. "**That's** why you all looked so uncomfortable whenever Oliver and I were around!" "Shh!" Ron whispered before pointing to the crack in our compartment door. That's probably why it was so cold.

"…Father actually considered sending me to Durmstrang rather than Hogwarts, you know. He knows the headmaster, you see. Well, you know his opinion of Dumbledore- the man's such a mudblood lover- and Durmstrang doesn't admit that sort of riffraff. But Mother didn't like the idea of me going to school so far away. Father says Durmstrang takes a far more sensible line than Hogwarts about the Dark Arts. Durmstrang students actually learn them, not just the defense rubbish we do…" Hermione leaned over and slid the door shut to block out my cousin's insults.

"So he thinks Durmstrang would have suited him, does he? I wish he **had** gone, then we wouldn't have to put up with him." I made a face at the unflattering tone she was using. I had **never** heard Hermione talk like that.

"Durmstrang's another Wizarding school?" I nodded at Harry's question, wrapping my arms around myself. "The only school I've got left if I get kicked out of Hogwarts." I shivered again, this time out of disgust.

"It's got a horrible reputation. _According to An Appraisal of Magical Education in Europe_, it puts a lot of emphasis on the Dark Arts." Hermione explained.

"I think I've heard of it. Where is it? What country?" Ron asked the walking encyclopedia.

"Well, nobody knows, do they?" I looked at her incredulously before correcting her. "Of course we do. All witches and wizards in Ireland, Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland all go to Hogwarts. The kids from the mainland are divided into west and east, so it's probably in one of those throaty speaking countries. You know, like Russia or Turkmenistan."

"If that's true, then how come you're an exception?" I looked Harry in the eye before responding. "I don't know. I suppose dear old mum pulled some strings due to the whole situation with my dad and all. She was absolutely terrified when I'd been expelled. I thought she was a nutter for not being angry like a normal person, but I get it now." I absentmindedly played with the straps of my dress before going on. "I can honestly say that punching Ameile in the face was the best decision I ever made in my life." I can't describe the feeling of accomplishment I got from making my friends laugh, all three of them.

* * *

><p>The rain kept pouring, but the compartment was actually getting warm, having dried us off hours ago.<p>

When the trolley came around, I developed a strong case of Déjà vu when Harry bought us all a large pile of Cauldron Cakes to share.

The ride had to have been halfway over when we were visited by our fellow Gryffindors Dean Thomas, Seamus Finnigan and my very favorite Neville Longbottom.

Reliving the World Cup was definitely cheering me up, even if the memories did contain Oliver. "Gran didn't want to go." Neville sulked. "Wouldn't buy tickets. It sounded amazing though."

"It was." Ron boasted. "Look at this, Neville…" He stood up to reach in his luggage and pulled out the Krum figurine he had been playing with when we were hidden deep within the woods.

"Oh wow," said Neville when Ron handed it to him. "We saw him right up close as well. We were in the Top Box-" I wanted to jump off this moving train for two reasons. The first being that I **knew**, fucking **knew** that I should have stayed with the Weasley's for the game. The second being that for the thousandth time, my mouth was full when my pale cousin came to throw mounds of insults at us.

"For the first and last time in your life, Weasley." Crabbe and Goyle stood behind him, making it an impossible task for anyone to make their way through the corridor due to their girth.

"Don't remember asking you to join us, Malfoy." voiced Harry who was obviously not entertained.

"Weasley,… what is that?" A piece of clothing was dangling from Pig's cage. Ron tried to grab it, but he lacked the agility of a Seeker.

"Look at this!" Malfoy held it out for everyone to see and I felt really bad for Ron. The dress robes looked ancient, the coloring didn't match at all, but the worst part is that it had ruffles. "Weasley, you weren't thinking of wearing these, were you? I mean- they were very fashionable in about eighteen ninety…" "Eat dung, Malfoy!" Ron yelled, grabbing the ketchup colored robes as Malfoy and his goons laughed.

"So… going to enter, Weasley? Going to try and bring a bit of glory to the family name? There's money involved as well, you know… you'd be able to afford some decent robes if you won…" "Your name's the one that needs the glory." I intervened, which I could tell had vastly pissed him off.

"How dare you? You're one to talk with your filthy **mudblood** mother and your-" "What are you talking about?" Ron yelled, distracting Malfoy enough to prevent from telling my very top secret business.

"**Are you going to enter?**" Malfoy repeated, his gaze slowly leaving mine. "I suppose you will, Potter? You never miss a chance to show off, do you?" Hermione looked up from her spellbook that she had busied herself with while we talked about Quidditch. "Either explain what you're on about or go away, Malfoy."

A genuine smile parted his lips as he looked at Hermione. "Don't tell me you don't **know**?" he asked enthusiastically, not matching his usual persona. "Your mother works at the Ministry along with his father and brother and you don't even **know**?" He asked, referring to Ron and me. "My God, my father told me about it ages ago… heard it from Cornelius Fudge. But then, Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry… Maybe your father's too junior to know about it, Weasley… yes… they probably don't talk about important stuff in front of him… let alone her mother…" He jerked his oval shaped head towards me before bursting into laughter with his cronies.

Once they were gone, Ron slammed the door shut so hard that the glass shattered. My mouth was agape as Hermione quickly fixed it. I had clearly underestimated his strength. "Well… making it look like he knows everything and we don't… Father's always associated with the top people at the Ministry… Dad could've got a promotion anytime… he just likes it where he is…"

"Of course he does." Hermione comforted. "Don't let Malfoy get to you, Ron-" "Him! Get to me! As if!" Ron denied, flattening a perfectly good Cauldron Cake between his massive hands.

I didn't bother me that Malfoy made fun of my mother's occupation. It was the snide remarks of her blood status that infuriated me to no end. Looking down on someone because of something they couldn't control made me see red.

* * *

><p>I felt slightly better, leaving the compartment with Hermione, having ran into Ginny on our way to the back to change into our robes.<p>

I felt painfully uncomfortable as I felt at least a dozen pairs of eyes on me the entire time, so I put on my clothes as quickly as possible, leaving the dressing compartment long before Ginny and Hermione even put on their shirts.

We exited the train as quickly as we could, trying not to stay in the rain longer than we needed to. Although, I will admit that I was more concerned about my skirt being too short than being soaked again.

"Hi, Hagrid!" Harry yelled as we both waved to the giant. "All righ' Harry? Glad you don't have to come down this way, Adhara?" I smiled as I nodded, relieved that I didn't have to be with the kids again. That was just too embarrassing. "See yeh at the feast if we don' drown!"

We rushed off the platform, hopping into a horseless carriage with Ron, Neville and Hermione. I smiled at Neville as the carriage started moving before trying to close my cloak over the front of my shirt. It had been raining and I wasn't exactly wearing the right colored bra for this kind of weather.

I was the last one out of the carriage, Neville staying behind to help me down. "Thank you!" I shouted as we caught up with the others inside of the castle.

"Blimey." said Ron, shaking his sopping red mop of a head right in front of me. I wiped the excess water off my calm face as I planned my revenge.

"If that keeps up, the lake's going to overflow. I'm soak- ARRGH!" A red water balloon had hit him on his dome, sending him staggering to lean on Harry.

Another landed near their feet and I burst our laughing, clinging to a paranoid Neville for support.

Up above us was Peeves the Poltergeist. I had yet to be one of his victims, but I did dislike him for his sick sense of humor when it came to my father.

"PEEVES! Peeves, come down here at ONCE!" McGonagall ran to us, just in time to catch Hermione from slipping. "Ouch-sorry, Miss Granger-" Personally, I was impressed with her speed and swiftness, especially for her age. She must've been a Quidditch player at some point in her life.

"That's alright, Professor!" Hermione said as soon as she regained her balance. "Peeves, get down here NOW!" He threw another one at a group of girls who dodged it by running into the Great Hall.

"Not doing nothing!" he cackled. "Already wet, aren't they? Little squirts! Wheeeeeeeeee!" He shouted, aiming another at some underclassmen who just entered.

"I shall call the headmaster! I'm warning you, Peeves-" Peeves stuck his tongue out at her threat, throwing the last water balloons he had into the air before gliding away up the staircase, his laugh echoing from every direction.

"Well, move along then! Into the Great Hall, come on!" I fought the urge to entwine my fingers with Harry's, not wanting to give any other boys the wrong idea, or else I'd be single for all eternity.

"Good evening." greeted our house ghost, Nearly Headless Nick, as we reached the Gryffindor table. "Says who?" asked Harry, being the first to sit down. "Hope they hurry up with the Sorting. I'm starving." he said grumpily as he dumped the water out of his sneakers.

"Hiya, Harry!" called out a little bucktoothed boy not too far down the table. "Hi, Colin." Harry responded halfheartedly.

"Harry, guess what? Guess what, Harry? My brother's starting! My brother Dennis!" "Er- good." Harry said unenthusiastically like he could really care less about holding this conversation.

"He's really excited!" It was amusing to see that the little blonde boy couldn't contain himself. "I just hope he's in Gryffindor! Keep your fingers crossed, eh, Harry?" "Er- yeah, all right." finished Harry, turning to face me instead, but the boy didn't consider it discouraging in the slightest.

"Colin. Colin Creevey." I leaned over a frowning Harry to shake his hand. "I'm-" "Adhara Elliot, Harry's god sister. I envy you two really- I mean, blood or not, brothers and sisters usually go in the same Houses, don't they?" My lip curled up in an unintentional sneer as I relived the fact that he said out loud a very dire secret as if it were common knowledge.

"Oh no, not necessarily. Parvarti Patil's twin's in Ravenclaw and they're identical. You'd think they'd be together, wouldn't you?" Thankful for Hermione's diversion, I sulked into my seat, resting my head on my fist, wondering how many more knew and if they would treat me different because of it.

I jumped at the clap of thunder because it sounded much too close for my liking. "Oh hurry up." whined Ron, diagonal from me. "I could eat a hippogriff."

The hall became silent right after he said it which only made it easier to slip into thoughts of worry about Buckbeak. Had dad taken him along, or was he left with Mum who I had never seen interact with a living animal in my life.

It was so quiet, the sound of teeth clanking and sopping robes could be made out clearly as McGonagall led the first years in the Great Hall. One boy at the end of the lot looked brashly out of place with Hagrid's massive moleskin coat wrapped around his tiny frame. I expected him to look miserable in his beastly cape, but the boy was smiling! Grinning to be precise.

I watched him turn and give a thumbs up to someone seated not too far away from us and I bit my lip to keep from laughing when I saw him mouth, "I fell in the lake!" with sheer enthusiasm.

We looked on in silence as McGonagall placed a stool with the sorting hat on top, stepping away as it sang.

"A thousand years or more ago,

When I was newly sewn,

There lived four wizards of renown,

Whose names are still well known:

Bold Gryffindor, from wild moor

Fair Ravenclaw, from glen,

Sweet Hufflepuff, from valley broad,

Shrewd Slytherin, from fen.

They shared a wish, a hope, a dream,

They hatched a daring plan

To educate young sorcerers

Thus Hogwarts School began.

Now each of these four founders

Formed their own house, for each

Did value different virtues

In the ones they had to teach.

By Gryffindor, the bravest were

Prized far beyond the rest;

For Ravenclaw, the cleverest

Would always be the best;

For Hufflepuff, hard workers were

Most worthy of admission;

And power-hungry Slytherin

Loved those of great ambition.

While still alive they did divide

Their favorites from the throng,

Yet how to pick the worthy ones

When they were dead and gone?

Twas Gryffindor who found the way,

He whipped me off his head

The founders put some brains in me

So I could choose instead!

Now slip me snug about your ears,

I've never yet been wrong,

I'll have a look inside your mind

And tell where you belong!"

We all clapped loudly as it finished, grateful for the history lesson it provided.

After the sorting was done and the food finally appeared, the boys celebrated by stuffing their faces. Usually, I'd be joining them, but I wasn't that hungry and I wanted to continue talking to Ginny and Hermione.

"So what do you think it is, this formal event?" Ginny shrugged, swallowing her mashed potatoes. "I don't know, but Charlie told us on the platform that he'd be here to watch." I furrowed my brows at that and shifted in my seat.

"Oliver said something about a date and a tournament, but it was all a jumbled mess." I stopped myself there, not wanting to tell anyone else I had been dumped. "And Percy did say that his department would be particularly busy when school started back again."

A loud clank of a goblet meeting the table made me put my arms up to avoid the spill. Hermione hadn't been listening to a word we were saying!

"There are house elves here?" she asked Nearly Headless Nick. "Here at **Hogwarts**?"

"Certainly." he confirmed, unknowingly fueling her political flame. "The largest number in any dwelling in Britain, I believe. Over a hundred."

"I've never seen one!" she exclaimed and neither had I, not before Winky.

"Well, they hardly ever leave the kitchen by day, do they? They come out at night to do a bit of cleaning… see to the fires and so on… I mean, you're not supposed to see them, are you? That's the mark of a good house elf, isn't it, that you don't know it's there?" Hermione took a while to stare at his translucent figure before asking, "But they get paid? They get **holidays**, don't they? And- And sick leave, and pensions, and everything?" I set my fork down in frustration as he laughed. I've had it up to here with all this house elf talk. It was painful to listen to and I just didn't give a damn anymore.

"Sick leave and pensions? House elves don't want sick leave and pensions!" At his words, she mirrored my actions, also pushing her plate away.

"Oh c'mon, 'Er-my-knee," Ron spat all over his best friend. "Oops- sorry, 'Arry-" I stared him down until he swallowed his food. "You won't get them sick leave by starving yourself!"

She squared her shoulders and started breathing heavily through her nose, and I knew then, her mind had been made up. "Slave labor. That's what made this dinner. Slave labor."

Thunder clapped and the main courses and their sides were replaced with dessert. Ron kept offering her desserts, but she gave him the Granger death glare in response.

Knowing Dumbledore's speech was one step closer to me being snug in my bed and blissfully ignorant to problems that had no business being solved by 14 year old girls, I sat attentively as he addressed us. "So! Now that we are all fed and watered, I must once more ask for your attention, while I give out a few notices. Mr. Filch the caretaker, had asked me to tell you that the list of objects forbidden inside the castle this year has been extended to include Screaming Yo-Yos, Fanged Frisbees, and Ever-Bashing Boomerangs. The full list comprises some four hundred and thirty seven items I believe, and can be viewed in Mr. Filch's office, if anybody would like to check it." The corners of his mouth twitched before he carried on, causing me to join him in holding back a smile.

"As ever, I would like to remind you all that the forest on the grounds is out-of-bounds to students, as is the village of Hogsmeade to all below third year. It is also my painful duty to inform you that the Inter-House Quidditch Cup will not take place this year." Tears pricked my eyes as I processed what he just said. It was the ultimate cherry on top of today's events and I couldn't think of any better way to start off the school year.

"This is due to an event that will be starting in October, and continuing throughout the school year taking up much of the teachers' time and energy- but I am sure you will all enjoy it immensely. I have great pleasure in announcing that this year at Hogwarts-" My body quaked in surprise as the doors banged open exposing us to the even louder thunder. A dark figure stood in the doorway with a cloak that could rival Snape's Darth Vader length and he had a staff too.

He removed his hood to reveal unkempt grey hair as he walked towards the teachers' table. He walked with a limp, having to use extra effort to reach the headmaster.

It wasn't until the lightning struck again that the grim contours of his leathery skin were revealed. He had more scars than Lupin, ridding my theory that all facial scars were sexy.

A piece of one of his nostrils seemed to be missing, only a face a mother could love. But it was his eyes that were the most haunting. One rivaled Pettigrew's in size and beadiness. The other, oddly large and blue, rolling in every direction possible without needing the smaller one to follow.

He and Dumbledore exchanged private words as they shook hands before the stranger went to take a seat at the Teachers' table. "May I introduce our Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher? Professor Moody." Unlike when Lupin was here, no one applauded. Not a student anyways.

He looked indifferent to our cold welcome, digging well into his meal. "As I was saying, we are to have the honor of hosting a very exciting event of the coming months, an event that has not been held for over a century. It is my great pleasure to inform you that the Triwizard Tournament will be taking place at Hogwarts this year."

"You're JOKING!" shouted Fred before I could even process a reaction. Everyone laughed at his outburst, but Dumbledore maintained a pokerface.

"I am not joking, Mr. Weasley. Though now that you mention it, I did hear an excellent one over the summer about a troll, a hag, and a leprechaun who all go into a bar…" "The leprechaun asks for a firewhiskey on the rocks…" I mumbled, waiting for him to go on, but McGonagall cleared her throat.

"Er- but maybe this is not the time… no… where was I? Ah, yes, the Triwizard Tournament… well, some of you will not know what this tournament involves, so I hope those who **do** know will forgive me for giving a short explanation and allow their attention to wonder freely.

The Triwizard Tournament was first established some seven hundred years ago as a friendly competition between the three European school of wizardry: Hogwarts, Beauxbatons and Durmstrang.

A champion was selected to represent each school and three champions competed in three magical tasks.

The schools took it in turns to host the tournament once every five years, and it was generally agreed to be a most excellent way of establishing ties between young witches and wizards of different nationalities- until, that is, the death toll mounted so high that the tournament was discontinued.

There have been several attempts over the centuries to reinstate the tournament. None of which has been very successful. However, our own Department of International Magical Cooperation and Magical Games and Sports have decided the time is ripe for another attempt.

We have worked hard over the summer to ensure that this time, no champion will find himself or herself in mortal danger.

The heads of Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving with their shortlisted contenders in October, and the selection of the three champions will take place at Halloween. An impartial judge will decide which students are most worthy to compete for the Triwizard Cup, the glory of their school, and a thousand Galleons personal prize money."

Whispers broke out at every table and at ours, Fred exclaimed "I'm going for it!" I shook my head at him, but Dumbledore cleared his throat and the hall went silent, obviously thrilled to hear more.

"Eager though I know all of you will be to bring the Triwizard cup to Hogwarts, the heads of the participating schools, along with the Ministry of Magic, have agreed to impose an age restriction on contenders this year. Only students who are of age- that is to say, seventeen years or older- will be allowed to put forward their names for consideration. This-" He stopped, making sure everyone was listening after we had voiced our outrage. Some being of course, the Weasley Twins who were now simply fuming.

"is a measure we feel is necessary, given that the tournament tasks will be difficult and dangerous , whatever precautions we take, it is highly unlikely that students below sixth and seventh year will be able to cope with them. I will personally be ensuring that no underage student hoodwinks our impartial judge into making them Hogwarts Champion." His sky blue eyes made their way over to the twins before adding, "I therefore beg you not to waste your time submitting yourself if you are under seventeen.

The delegations from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang will be arriving in October and remaining with us for the greater part of the year. I know that you will all extend every courtesy to our foreign guests while they are with us, and will give your whole hearted support to the Hogwarts champion when he or she is selected. And now, it is late and I know how important it is for you all to be alert and rested as you enter your lessons tomorrow morning. Bedtime! Chop chop!"

On our way to the common room, everyone was talking about the tournament, whether it be complaining about the age limit or excited jittering about it in its revival.

I felt strange for being the only one who didn't want it to happen.

I had just gotten my fresh start a year ago, and now my past wanted to come and ruin things for me. I would rather give up my Firebolt than to have anything Beauxbaton related, rear its ugly head into my life again.

* * *

><p><strong>Since Adhara's now a single lady, tell me who you think she should end up going to the Yule Ball with. I'd love to know. <strong>

No Hugs Peach: So what. I'm pretty sure Matilda was more afraid of her ex killing her daughter than some Death Eaters floating muggles in the air. But then again, I guess I can't blame you for not knowing that seeing as she's been the most mysterious character in this series so far.

Cal26lum: Thank you very much. That makes me happy!

Megirl97: It's a really pretty dress. Not as pretty as Hermione's, but you'll see. I thought the same thing too! I have no idea why it's spelled like that.


	11. Don't Talk To Me

**Disclaimer: I don't own anything that actually happened in the books.**

**A/N: You guys. Stop being strangers. I hate loving you from a distance. Talk to me. **

**Also, school's starting soon, so we'll see how often I'll be updating. I doubt it'll be different because I posted the first one just as frequently and I was in school back then. **

"Oh, wow, we're outside a lot." I said, frowning at my schedule. After yesterday, I didn't want to go outside for a while. Especially since I woke up with a bit of a sniffle this morning.

"Herbology with the Hufflepuffs and Care of Magical Creatures… damn it, we're still with the Slytherins…" Ron complained, Harry following suit with his own distaste. "Double Divination this afternoon."

I shook my head at his groaning, not looking forward to Trelawney either. "You should have given it up like me, shouldn't you?" Hermione boasted. "Then you'd be doing something sensible like Arithmancy."

I faux gagged at the mention of numbers while Ron dodged her insult by changing the subject. "You're eating again, I notice." She was now spreading a generous amount of jam on her toast. "I've decided there are better ways of making a stand about elf rights." she informed us matter-of-factly.

I nodded in agreement at Ron rolling his eyes in disbelief before bursting her bubble myself. "Hermione… it's alright. It happens to everyone every single day of their lives… multiple times even." I gave a dramatic sigh before meeting her confused gaze. "It's called being hungry."

* * *

><p>I ended up vomiting in my mouth a little in Herbology over the hideous Bubotubers that Professor sprout made us collect pus from.<p>

As soon as we were done, I pretty much sprinted to Hagrid's hut for Care of Magical Creatures. "Hi, Fang!" I greeted, bending down to rub the top of the boarhound's head.

Fang didn't even look up at me, for he was too busy straining against Hagrid's hold on his collar, eyes fixated on the open crates on the grass.

I stood erect, attempting to make sense of the sound of rattling and explosions. "Mornin'!" Hagrid greeted as the other Gryffindors arrived. "Be'er wait fer the Slytherins, they won' want ter miss this- Blast Ended Skrewts!" I smiled, glad that he wasn't in a funk like last year.

"Hey!-" I started, beginning to tell him about Buckbeak and how we put a disillusionment charm on our property, but I remembered that he wasn't in on what happened that night.

He looked at me to finish, but luckily I was saved by Lavender Brown screaming after looking down into one of the crates. I took a gander myself and it actually made sense for a girl like her to be frightened.

They looked like headless axolotls with legs sticking out at odd angles. AND they reeked. I could see them producing sparks and when they were done, they made the sound of a firework right before it goes off, which would send them forward a few inches.

"On'y jus' hatched, so yeh'll be able to raise 'em yer selves! Thought we'd be able ter make a bit of a project of it!"

"And why would we want to raise them?" I opened my mouth to put Malfoy in his place, but snapped it shut, knowing that he could spill the beans about my dad. I mean, I wasn't ashamed. Far from it actually, but I just didn't want to be cast aside by everyone. Not when things were falling into place and becoming routine. So I just let him continue to be rude. For now. "I mean, what do they do? What is the point of them?"

"Tha's next lesson, Malfoy. Yer jus' feedin' 'em today. Now, yeh'll wan' ter try 'em on a few diff'rent things- I've never had 'em before, not sure what they'll go fer- I got ant eggs an' frog livers an' a bit o' grass snake- just try 'em out with a bit of each." Without hesitation, I tied my cloak around my waist and pulled up my sleeves so I could grab a plentiful amount of frog livers.

"**Ouch!**" yelled the very handsome Dean Thomas. "It got me!" I know I had seen him on the train and at the World Cup, but he was always seated. I can now see just how tall he'd grown. Definitely one of the tallest in our year.

Hagrid hurried over, not wanting a repeat of last year. "Its end exploded!" Hagrid just nodded, not tending to his hand at all. "Ah, yeah, that can happen when they blast off."

"Eurgh! Eurgh, Hagrid, what's that pointy thing on it?" Lavender yelped in her trademark high pitched voice. "Ah, some of 'em have got stings." I giggled quietly when her hand jerked from the crate. "I reckon they're the males… The females've got sorta sucker things on their bellies… I think they might be ter suck blood."

"Well, I can certainly see why we're trying to keep them alive." said Malfoy sarcastically. "Who wouldn't want pets that can burn, sting and bite all at once?"

"Just because they're not very pretty, it doesn't mean they're not useful. Dragon blood's amazingly magical, but you wouldn't want a dragon for a pet, would you?" I beamed up at Hermione, finally standing up to him, unlike how passive she was in the forest.

I smirked and quietly answered her rhetorical question. "I would." I bit my lip thinking about the bulkiest Weasley and his occupation. Ron looked at my pointedly and I had no trouble letting him have it. He had nothing over me.

"What?" I shook my head, trying to get him off my back. "What was that supposed to mean?" I scoffed and feigned ignorance at his interrogation. "What? I can't like dragons now?"

"Not once have you ever brought up dragons-" "You've only known me for a year and if I **had** brought it up, you would probably ignore me anyways!" He stared me down, squaring his shoulders.

"Just admit that you fancy my brother." I scoffed before nodding vigorously. "So what if I do? It's not like you can judge me for having a boyfriend anymore."

"You've been single for a day! And he's seven years our senior." I rolled my eyes at his dramatics. "What do you expect me to do? Mope around until another guy comes around to be my night and shining armor? I don't think so."

Not quite satisfied with my ending argument, I added. "Oh, and Ginny told me he'll be making a visit, so we'll just have to wait until then, won't we?" I had no intention of going after Charlie, but I thrived to piss Ron off every now and then. It relieved a lot of stress.

* * *

><p>Divination didn't turn out to be so bad. Trelawney seemed wary of me, only speaking to me at the beginning of class, asking if I had a good night.<p>

She made an assumption about Harry being born in midwinter, causing Ron and me to crack up. But the best part was when Ron asked Lavender Brown "Can I have a look at Uranus too, Lavender?" I laughed so hard that Trelawney gave us all extra homework.

"Professor Vektor didn't give us any at all!" "By all means, Hermione, if you're complaining, I'll let you do my homework." She glared at me as we reached the entrance hall.

It was filled wall to wall with students waiting for the Great Hall to open for dinner.

"Weasley! Hey, Weasley!" Malfoy called from between his two bodyguards. "What?" said Ron shortly, not ready to put up with this right now.

"Your dad's in the paper, Weasley!" From his cloak, he pulled out the _Daily Prophet_. He cleared his throat and looked around, making sure he had a big audience. "Listen to this!

**FURTHER MISTAKES AT THE MINISTRY OF MAGIC**

It seems as though the Ministry of Magic's troubles are not yet at an end, _writes Rita Skeeter, Special Correspondent_. Recently under fire for its poor crowd control at the Quidditch World Cup, and still unable to account for the disappearance of one of its witches, the Ministry was plunged into fresh embarrassment yesterday by the antics of Arnold Weasley, of the Misuse of Muggle Artifacts Office." Malfoy looked up from the paper smirking. "Imagine them not even getting his name right, Weasley. It's almost as though he's a complete nonentity, isn't it?"

I crossed my arms, waiting for him to get this over with, or for the Great Hall doors to open. Whichever came first. "Arnold Weasley, who was charged with possession of a flying car two years ago, was yesterday involved in a tussle with several Muggle law-keepers ("Policemen") over a number of highly aggressive dustbins. Mr. Weasley appears to have rushed to the aid of "Mad-Eye" Moody, the aged ex-Auror who retired from the Ministry when no longer able to tell the difference between a handshake and attempted murder. Unsurprisingly, Mr. Weasley found, upon arrival at Mr. Moody's heavily guarded house, that Mr. Moody had once again raised a false alarm. Mr. Weasley was forced to modify several memories before he could escape from the policemen, but refused to answer _Daily Prophet_ questions about why he had involved the Ministry in such an undignified and potentially embarrassing scene.

And there's a picture Weasley!" He held it up for all to see. "A picture of your parents outside their house- if you can call it a house! Your mother could do with losing a bit of weight, couldn't she?" My fists clenched, not daring to look at anyone, in fear of exploding and letting my emotions get me into trouble.

"Get stuffed, Malfoy. C'mon, Ron…" "Oh yeah, you were staying with them this summer, weren't you, Potter? So tell me, is his mother really that porky, or is it just the picture?" That was my pseudo mum he was badmouthing.

"You know your mother, Malfoy?" Harry asked as Hermione and I held Ron back. "That expression she's got, like she's got dung under her nose? Has she always looked like that, or was it just because you were with her?" Malfoy's pale face flushed at the insult. "Don't you dare insult my mother, Potter."

"Keep your mouth shut, then." Harry made to turn around and I leaned forward to get the last word in. "Bloody hyp-" People screamed and in a blur, I saw Malfoy knick Harry before he was completely turned around, a complete wimp move.

I let go of Ron, stuffing my bag in his arms instead. I stepped forward, cocking my fist back- "OH NO YOU DON'T, LADDIE!" I stumbled forward, my fist hitting nothing but air.

I examined my surroundings for my intended punching bag before looking down. Where he stood, now sat an adorable little white ferret who was scared for its life. I was a split second away from picking it up before releasing it was Malfoy.

"Did he get you?" asked Professor Moody, the supposed culprit of this transfiguration. "No." Harry lied. "Missed."

"LEAVE IT!" Moody shouted. "Leave- what?" "Not you- him!" Behind him, Crabbe was bent over to pick up Malfoy, which either made Moody psychic, or he has eyes on the back of his head.

Moody turned around and staggered toward the Slytherin trio, but the ferret squeaked and scurried to the dungeons. "I don't think so!" I had to chant a mantra in my head that the ferret was Draco and that I shouldn't care.

But one had to be heartless not to freak out when Moody began a cruel cycle of lifting him into the air and smacking him on the ground repeatedly. "I don't like people who attack when their opponent's back's turned. Stinking, cowardly, scummy thing to do…"

I turned my attention to Moody, silently wishing him to stop. "Never-do-that-again-" "Professor Moody!" screamed McGonagall as she ran down the staircase, carrying a Ravenclaw worthy pile of books.

"Hello, Professor McGonagall." greeted Moody calmly, **still** torturing Draco. "What- What are you doing?" she asked, her eyes never once leaving his victim.

"Teaching." Under any other circumstance, I would have found his blunt answer hilarious, but this was far from funny. "Teach- Moody, **is that a student**?" she yelled, letting the books pool around her feet.

"Yep," he simply stated. "No!" she shouted, running towards us. A loud crackling noise emitted from her wand and we were reunited once again with the thin **human** form of a Mr. Draco Malfoy.

"Moody, we never use transfiguration as a punishment! Surely Professor Dumbledore told you that?" Moody scratched his chin aloofly, a strange contrast to her bewilderment. "He might've mentioned it, yeah. But I though a good sharp shock-" "We give detentions, Moody! Or speak to the offender's Head of House!" The look she gave him was far worse than when she gave me my first detention last year. He had more than crossed the line and needed to stop while he was ahead.

"I'll do that, then." Malfoy's eyes were watery as he got to his feet and I was close enough to hear him mutter, "My father will hear about this…" "Oh yeah?" Moody responded to his threat, taking uneven steps toward to the poor boy. "Well, I know your father of old, boy… You tell him Moody's keeping a close eye on his son… You tell him that from me… Now, your Head of House'll be Snape, will it?" "Yes." Malfoy answered hesitantly.

"Another old friend. I've been looking forward to a chat with old Snape… Come on, you…" I can honestly say that I felt bad for Draco as Moody pulled him down to the dungeons.

* * *

><p>At the Gryffindor table, I opened my mouth to reassure Ron about his embarassment. That is, until he put a hand in my face.<p>

"Don't talk to me." I tried not to frown at his disrespectful demand. "Why not?" Hermione queried.

"Because I want to fix that in my memory forever." He closed his eyes dreamily before adding, "Draco Malfoy the amazing bouncing ferret…" The two brunettes laughed at him, Hermione filling our plates with beef casserole.

"He could have really hurt Malfoy, though. It was good, really that Professor McGonagall stopped it-" "Hermione!" Ron exclaimed, no longer smiling. "You're ruining the best moment of my life!"

"Oh shut up, Ron. That was far from entertainment." His blue eyes darted straight to my face, trying to read my sullen expression. "You- you're serious right now? You watched me get dragged into a tree trunk by the grim last year with no problem, and now you're crying over Malfoy being turned into a ferret?"

"I'm not crying. I wouldn't wish that on anyone. Not even Malfoy." I didn't even bother to say 'Ok, not including Fudge' because I was being **that** serious.

"He was talking about my mum-" "Weight is far less of a burden than blood status ok! I'll start being more sympathetic when Malfoy hits you with something harder than poor, ugly robes and voluptuous mother, you ignorant dunce!"

I think I blew up partially because it was Ron and partially because I was confused as to why I was defending a bully. It didn't matter though, I didn't talk to Ron two days after he said that to me.

Snape made me feel right at home when he gave Neville detention for melting his cauldron and Hermione and I were now helping him get rid of the frog guts beneath his fingernails. "Remember, Neville. Go easy on the horned slugs. That's what really gets the fire going."

He nodded as we let go of his cleaned hands. "I think you should sit behind us from now on so that we can give you any help if you need it." He smiled at Hermione before giving a grateful thanks.

I on the other hand was glowering at her. I was all for helping Neville. He was just too sweet to be victimized by Snape. But I was not looking forward to this new arrangement. Didn't she know that when potions exploded, they usually go forward?

I valued my life and well being as much as the next person, thank you very much.

* * *

><p>Spending time with Hermione didn't stop there. No, on Thursday, I even agreed to accompany her to the library to kill time before our first DADA lesson.<p>

I immediately regretted it when I saw her pick up a book about house elves. On the other side of the library, I enjoyed _Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them_ by Newt Scamander to pass time and to learn a bit about dragons to keep up with my whole fancying Charlie charade.

I pretty much had to beg Hermione to leave the library early. We weren't late or anything, but everyone from our class was crowded outside of the room.

"This was the quickest I could get her here." I said to Harry, ignoring the ginger at his side. I already didn't like this Moody character, but it was my favorite class and no nutter was going to change that.

"Been in the-" "Library." Harry finished for her. "C'mon, quick, or we won't get decent seats."

As soon as the bell rang, we rushed into the four desks nearest the front.

We didn't have to wait long after pulling out our books: _The Dark Forces: A Guide to Self-Protection_, to hear Moody's jagged footsteps coming down the hall.

The Professor still looked as disturbing as when he made his grand entrance into the Great Hall earlier in the week.

"You can put those away." He ordered, taking his seat behind his desk. "Those books. You won't need them." I paused before putting my book back in my bag. Lupin had instructed the very same thing on our first lesson of the year. Maybe Moody wouldn't be too horrible of a teacher after all.

He took roll call, setting down his register when he was done. "Right then. I've had a letter from Professor Lupin about this class. Seems you've had a pretty thorough grounding in tackling Dark Creatures- you've covered Boggarts, Red Caps, Hinkypunks, Grindylows, Kappas and Werewolves, is that right?" I sat up straighter at the mention of my missing godfather.

"But you're behind- very behind- on dealing with curses. So I'm here to bring you up to scratch on what wizards can do to each other. I've got one year to teach you how to deal with Dark-" "What, aren't you staying?" blurted Ron, causing Moody to give a creepy smile.

"You'll be Arthur Weasley's son, eh? Your father got me out of a very tight corner a few days ago… Yeah, I'm staying just the one year. Special favor to Dumbledore… One year, and then back to my quiet retirement." He gave a rough "HA!" while clapping his hands together.

"So- straight into it. Curses. They come in many strengths and forms. Now, according to the Ministry of Magic, I'm supposed to teach you Countercurses and leave it at that. I'm not supposed to show you what illegal Dark Curses look like until you're in the sixth year. You're not supposed to be old enough to deal with it, till then. But Professor Dumbledore's got a higher opinion of your nerves, he reckons you can cope, and I say, the sooner you know what you're up against, the better. How are you supposed to defend yourself against something you've never seen? A wizard who's about to put an illegal curse on you isn't going to tell you what he's about to do. He's not going to do it nice and polite to your face. You need to be prepared. You need to be alert and watchful. You need to put that away, Miss Brown, when I'm talking."

Lavender jumped, arms under the table, holding something only visible to her and Parvati, which confirmed my theory that his eye must be magical. "So… do any of you know which curses are most heavily punished by wizarding law?" I lifted my hand in the air, trying to remember the names of all three.

He pointed at Ron, keeping his wild eye on Lavender. "Er, my dad told me about one… Is it called the Imperius Curse or something?"

"Ah, yes." Moody nodded. "Your father **would** know that one. Gave the Ministry a lot of trouble at one time, the Imperius Curse."

Then, he stood, reaching into his desk to retrieve a jar full of three black spiders. I smirked seeing Ron flinch at the sight.

My amusement was short lived as I watched Moody pull out a spider and whisper, "_Imperio_!" The spider leapt from his hand, dangling from its web, swinging to and fro. It stretched all its legs to their full extent, flipping onto the desk, where it did a cartwheel. It was when it began to dance that everyone started to laugh. Everyone, but me and Moody.

"Think it's funny, do you? You'd like it, would you, if I did it to you?" Silence fell like an atom bomb before Moody continued his lesson.

"Total control." The spider was now curled up in a ball, rolling all over the desk. "I could make it jump out of the window, drown itself, throw itself down one of your throats… Years back, there were a lot of witches and wizards being controlled by the Imperius Curse. Some job for the Ministry, trying to sort out who was being forced to act, and who was acting on their own free will. The Imperius Curse can be fought, and I'll be teaching you how, but it takes real strength of character, and not everyone's got it. Better avoid being hit with it if you can. CONSTANT VIGALANCE!" he barked, scaring all of us out of our wits.

"Anyone else know one? Another illegal curse?" I didn't raise my hand this time, no longer feeling comfortable enough to participate.

My brows furrowed at Neville's hand in the air. He usually only found Herbology worthy of his attention. Not to mention the last time I saw him do that, he got himself into a lot of trouble. "Yes?"

"There's one- the Cruciatus Curse." Neville murmured, catching the attention of both of Moody's eyes. "Your name's Longbottom?" Neville nodded and Moody reached into the jar to grab another spider to put on the desk.

"_Engorgio_!" The spider tripled in size, causing Ron to push his chair back. "_Crucio_!" Moody cast and the spider stiffened before rolling onto its back in what looked a lot like agony. The legs were twitching as it convulsed rapidly.

To my left, I saw Neville gripping his desk in shock, but it had to be more than that. There was too much pain behind his eyes. "STOP! Stop it!" I cried, blinking back a few tears. What in Merlin's name was wrong with this man?

"_Reducio_." he said before putting it back in the jar. "Pain. You don't need thumbscrews or knives to torture someone if you can perform the Cruciatus Curse… That one was very popular once too. Right… anyone know any others?"

I put my head in my hands with my elbows propped on my desk, not wanting to see any more.

"Yes?" "Avada Kedavra." I heard Hermione whisper. "Ah." I could hear a crooked smile form on Moody's mangled mouth as he went on. "Yes, the last and worst. Avada Kedavra… the Killing Curse." Shuffling could be made out before my ears were met with "_Avada Kedavra_!"

I could feel a lump forming in my throat and I'd be damned if I let anyone other than Harry and Hermione see me cry.

I silently excused myself from the classroom, sprinting once I was out of the door. I kept going until I found a dark corridor that lacked nosy portraits before allowing myself to cry.

I just couldn't believe Dumbledore would allow him to shove that down our throats, especially when we weren't ready for it.

"Adhara?" I muffled my sniffles with my hand before turning to go deeper into the hall. "Adhara, wait." Neville had turned the corner and I quickly made my way over to him, searching his face with concern.

He looked hollow and I let myself hug him, only doing this before to a handful of people. "Why are you crying?"

"Why aren't you?" I pulled away, confused, like I had cried for no reason.

"Because if I cried every time I was reminded of what's become of my parents, I wouldn't have time to do anything else." I wiped my tears, not saying anything that could ruin the moment. I was all too good at that. "Not to mention the bullying would escalate."

"Neville… I have **no** idea what you're talking about, but I'm here if you need someone-" "Neville?" I could tell it was Hermione's gentle voice coming down the dark corridor, not surprisingly with the rest of the trio in tow.

"Oh hello." he greeted, his voice changing from when he was talking to me. "Interesting lesson, wasn't it? I wonder what's for dinner, I'm- I'm starving, aren't you?" I understood why he was dodging her attention. It was unwanted and it was much easier to confess something to one person instead of four.

"Neville, are you alright?" He shifted a little, resembling a cornered rodent. "Oh yes, I'm fine. Very interesting dinner- I mean lesson- what's for eating?"

"Neville, what-?" Unbalanced footsteps destroyed our intimacy, making it awkward when he slapped a leathery hand on Neville's shoulder. "It's all right, sonny. Why don't you come up to my office? Come on… we can have a cup of tea…" I prayed my voice wouldn't give away the embarrassing fact that I had been crying, as I spoke to the Professor.

"Uh- actually, Neville and I were going to enjoy dinner together. I heard we were having corned beef and cabbage tonight." His manic eye swept over me before he broke out into a light chuckle.

"You've broken the mold, haven't you? Considering your father, I'd expect you to be more than a novice at bending the truth." I backed down instantly, growing guilty as I looked at the frightened Neville.

"You all right, are you, Potter?" "Yes." Harry confirmed at lightening speed.

"You've got to know. It seems harsh, maybe, **but you've got to know**. No point pretending… well… come on, Longbottom, I've got some books that might interest you." Not having any other option, Neville followed Moody back to his office, leaving us alone in the ill lit hall.

"What was that about?" Ron asked as we turned the corner. "I don't know." Hermione answered before turning to me.

"Adhara, are you alright?" I nodded, waving it off. "Yeah, just got a bit nauseous in there is all." Not having a mind of an oblivious male, I knew that she caught that I was lying, but I knew that she wouldn't press matters over something like this. At least not with me.

I wish we could've travelled to the Great Hall in silence, but as usual, Ron had to open his fat mouth. "Some lesson, though, eh? Fred and George were right, weren't they? He really knows his stuff, Moody, doesn't he? When he did Avada Kedavra, the way that spider just **died**, just snuffed it right-" All three of us glared him down until he shut up and realized just what he was saying and who he was saying it in front of.

"Hermione, do you happen to know a spell that could turn a man into a eunuch?" I could tell that she was supressing a giggle by the tone in which she addressed me. "No, Adhara. I don't"

* * *

><p><strong>RandomAsRainbows<strong>: Ok, now that was funny. Is that how it really goes?

**Cal26lum:** That had to be the strangest review of all time. Ron's like the most frequent character in the series. Other than Adhara of course, but even more than Harry. But if you're talking about the plot instead of pointless little spats, then you're right. He's barely in it at all. But don't worry, by the time this installment is over, he'll be more important. I promise. Just hang on. That's all I can say without giving up too much of what's to come. As for the Beauxbatons thing, you'll have to wait for the next chapter for it. And stop it with the compliments already. They're too flattering. Save them for a better author.

**Megirl97:** Yes you get to see it. I'll post a picture on my profile when the time comes. Another word? How about bowtruckles? I've been obsessed with it ever since I got my wand on Pottermore. Or Katniss? I'm reading the Hunger Games right now, so...


	12. Nice Try, Harry

**Disclaimer:** I don't fucking own anything, but Addy.

**A/N: I'm not gonna lie to you, I hate this chapter. It's not exactly a filler, but I hate it. I hate how slow the book's going along and I don't blame you guys if you think it's boring as fuck too.**

After dinner, I had once again followed Hermione to the library. I had been working on my divination until I saw Hermione surrounded by books on house elves.

That was when I knew I had to sneak back to the Gryffindor tower before she dragged me into her pointless obsession.

I found Ron and Harry in front of the fire, making false predictions for their Divination homework. Knowing he would understand, I waved to Crookshanks on the armchair before sneaking up behind the boys. "Where's thing one and thing two?" Ron's supplies nearly fell off his lap whereas Harry only jumped a tad.

"Uh, they just went upstairs." I nodded, ruffling his hair before running up the stairs to the boy's dormitories.

I didn't sneak in at all. No, I strutted all around the place until I found a pair of gingers, waving to a dumbstruck Neville along the way.

"I want in." I bluntly demanded before plopping on George's bed.

They exchanged a look, not even shocked that I was up here. "We haven't the foggiest, love." Denied Fred, lying straight to my face.

"I'm not sure if your tiny brains can remember, but you two got me in trouble twice in one day last year." I looked over my shoulder at the sleeping form of Lee Jordan before getting to the point. "So I think you owe me."

George shook his head before continuing the façade started by his twin. "Adhara, you've-" "No offense, but knowing you two, I consider it a no brainer that you brought home a very large sack of gold from the World Cup. And considering that you've made it very obvious that you're reviving Weasley's Wizard Wheezes… I want to help."

They furrowed their matching brows and I instantly knew I made a mistake, quickly dropping my serious tone and trading it for an apologetic one. "No! Sorry, that sounded like blackmail. I don't want to be paid." I sighed knowing that I was being insensitive to their delicate financial status. "I just… need a distraction."

I sulked thinking of Hermione's elf nonsense, Oliver, my breakdown in class today, distancing myself from Harry, Ron's insensitivity, everyone knowing about dad and the Beauxbatons students' arrival. And what better way to face my problems than not at all?

"Adhara." Fred said gently, not going on until my eyes were on his. "We **thought** we were starting up Weasley's Wizard Wheezes… but we underestimated Bagman." I cocked my head to the side, waiting for either of them to elaborate.

"We made a **fat** bet." George said. "A **real fat** bet." Fred interrupted. "And technically, Bagman **did** pay us."

"Then what's the problem?" George glanced at Fred before asking me "Surely you noticed the cloud that showered gold coins, did you? Unless you were too busy snogging Wood." Quickly averting that question, I spoke up to take control of the conversation. "Of course. I put a few in my pocket."

"And when we packed up in the morning, were they still there?" I always checked my pockets before changing out of my clothes, but maybe I was too tired or shaken up to remember that I had even taken any. "No… They weren't." I answered, trying to see where they were going with this. "They were charmed coins. They disappeared a little after the game was over."

I pouted after putting two and two together. Bagman had tricked them, the scumbag. "Well, good thing I stunned him that night, huh?" Their eyes widened and they leaned forward on the edge of Fred's bed reading my face to see if I was lying.

"You're hired!"

* * *

><p>Over breakfast, Harry kicked me under the table and I knew that it wasn't an accident considering how forceful it was.<p>

I swallowed my pain and tried to face him without a shred of anger in my expression.

He kept glancing between me and the table, but it wasn't until he subtly pointed below that I understood what he meant.

I pulled my Charms book from my bag and opened it under the table. I could feel the tips of his fingers touch mine as he slid something between the pages. Discreetly, I pulled the book into my lap and pretended like I was reading.

"Harry-

I'm flying north immediately. This news about your scar is the latest in a series of strange rumors that have reached me here. If it hurts again, go straight to Dumbledore- they're saying he's got Mad-Eye out of retirement, which means he's reading the signs, even if no one else is. I'll be in touch soon. My best to Ron and Hermione. Keep your eyes open, Harry.

P.S. Tell Adhara that I hope she's been practicing.

Sirius."

I closed my book, grinning as I munched on a crispy piece of bacon.

It wasn't until I looked up to take a sip of orange juice, that I saw Harry and Hermione looking at me with expectant eyes. "Well…" Hermione started. "Have you been practicing?" I shifted in my seat at her question, time appearing to slow down as I tried to find a good fib to tell her.

"No. He'll be upset when I tell him that Quidditch will be nonexistent this year." My silver eyes left her unconvinced cinnamon ones and chose to focus on the kinder green ones across from me. "Never mind that, Hermione. Didn't you read what he said? He's on his way here! He could be caught!" I shook my head at his paranoia.

"Have you no faith, Harry? The Ministry's too preoccupied with the tournament to notice a big black dog on the premises. They just have too much on their plate right now. I mean, Mum was able to nab his wand and they **still** haven't noticed." He only relaxed a little as I continued to whisper. "Harry, we came home nearly every week and he's just as free as the day we saved him." I leaned back, finished with trying to assuring him. He could be pessimistic if he wanted, but my parade refused to be rained on.

Silence settled between the four of us. That is until Harry had to ruin it. "I wrote him… this morning. Told him not to come."

I shook my head at him while swallowing the remainder of my orange juice. "Harry… I don't know if you've noticed, but I don't take directions very well. And I sure as hell don't get it from my mother."

* * *

><p>Over the next few weeks, I wouldn't say that the bridge between Harry and I was burned, but we certainly did keep our distance.<p>

I often wondered about the bags under his eyes and how stressed he looked, but I never pried.

Maybe it had something to do with how dark DADA was getting lately. Just the other day, I overheard some Slytherins gushing over how he had performed the Imperius Curse on them and surely he'd be doing the same for all the houses. So I decided that hour would be better spent by sneaking outside for some alone time, knowing that I wouldn't get any once the foreign students arrived.

I didn't feel that elated again until Hagrid's Care of Magical Creatures lesson, later on in the week. He was kind enough to give us a lighter assignment compared to the rest of our classes. All we had to do was check on the skrewts outside of class and take notes while we were doing it.

"I will not." Malfoy protested, back to his snobby old self. "I see enough of these foul things during lessons, thanks."

Hagrid's mile wide grin could no longer be seen behind his beard, yet he didn't look instantly sulky like the last time Malfoy mouthed off in his class. "Yeh'll do wha' yer told. Or I'll be takin' a leaf outta Professor Moody's book… I hear yeh made a good ferret, Malfoy."

Ron glanced at me and despite the fact that Professor Moody made me sick to my stomach and that Malfoy as a ferret was the furthest thing from funny… I burst out laughing and the entire Gryffindor portion of the class followed.

If anything, it was Karma that tickled my funny bone. Just last year, Malfoy was trying to get him fired and now, Hagrid had the upper hand, embarrassing the spoiled brat in front of his peers.

* * *

><p>For the first time in a long time, I walked with the trio back to the castle. We couldn't make it far into the entrance hall due to the crowd around a boldly printed sign hung at the bottom of the staircase.<p>

"**TRIWIZARD TOURNAMENT**"

I turned to Ron after we performed what muggle children would call a 'jinx'. I knew he wasn't purposely trying to talk over me. We were the tallest ones in our group and we decided to read at the same time is all.

I faced forward again once I saw Ron close his mouth and cross his arms. A physical sign that he was backing down.

"THE DELEGATIONS FROM BEAUXBATONS AND DURMSTRANG WILL BE ARRIVING AT 6 O'CLOCK ON FRIDAY THE 30TH OF OCTOBER. LESSONS WILL END HALF AN HOUR EARLY-"

"Brilliant!" Harry cut me off. "It's Potions last thing on Friday! Snape won't have time to poison us all!" I smirked at his naivety before going on.

"STUDENTS WILL RETURN THEIR BAGS AND BOOKS TO THEIR DORMITORIES AND ASSEMBLE IN FRONT OF THE CASTLE TO GREET OUR GUESTS BEFORE THE WELCOMING FEAST."

"Only a week away! I wonder if Cedric knows? Think I'll go and tell him…" "Cedric?" Ron asked, watching Ernie MacMillan run down the hall.

"Diggory." answered Harry. "He must be entering the tournament." "That idiot, Hogwarts champion?" Ron scoffed as the crowd dispersed, allowing us to go up the staircase.

"He's not an idiot. You just don't like him because he beat Gryffindor at Quidditch." I frowned, choosing to speak for Weasley. "Hermione, you saw how big of a pillock his dad was."

Her expression rivaled mine as she continued to argue. "A child is **not** a mirror of their father. Besides, I've heard he's a really good student- **and** he's a prefect."

"You only like him because he's handsome." Ron retorted. "Excuse me, I don't like people just because they're handsome!" Hermione shouted in a disgusted tone.

We kept walking, not saying a word. Not unless you count Ron coughing, which sounded suspiciously like the name 'Lockhart'. It wasn't until my snickering died down that the new information from the sign below hit me like a ton of bricks.

I couldn't go five minutes without hearing about something related to the blasted tournament. I couldn't even walk out of the Gryffindor tower without seeing a change in scenery.

They'd been sprucing up the place, probably for the ritzy Beauxbatons students who've been pampered to the point that they'd never even seen a speck of dust, dirt or grime, let alone touch one.

The portraits had been scrubbed, the suits of armor were blinding in the daytime and Mr. Filch was becoming an overly hygienic nazi who developed OCD over night.

I had nearly forgotten it was the 30th and most likely would have went through the entire day being oblivious if it weren't for the Great Hall's morning makeover.

Our banners were now silken instead of cotton, and now, the teachers' table bore one with the Hogwarts emblem on it.

We sat down next to Fred and George who seemed upset about something. "It's a bummer, all right." "But if he won't talk to us in person, we'll have to send him the letter after all. Or we'll stuff it into his hand, He can't avoid us forever." I didn't think much of their ranting of Bagman, I knew they'd tell me if it were imperative to business.

"Who's avoiding you?" Ron asked his brothers. "Wish you would." I laughed at Fred's reply, enjoying how he was treating Ron. "Wish well spent, I'd say."

Ron glared at me, but continued to pester his brothers. "What's a bummer?" George answered this time. "Having a nosy git like you for a brother."

"You two got any ideas on the Triwizard Tournament yet? Thought any more about trying to enter?" Harry asked a more promising question. "I asked McGonagall how the champions are chosen, but she wasn't telling. She just told me to shut up and get on with transfiguring my raccoon." George sulked.

"Wonder what the tasks are going to be? You know, I bet we could do them, Harry. We've done dangerous stuff before…" I cut Ron off before he could sound any more daft. "**Really**, Ron? I thought that sort of caveman mentality would have been dragged out of you by the end of last term." The twins looked indifferent at my odd wording, but Ron looked pained, probably remembering the state of his leg in the shack.

"You've never performed in front of a panel of judges, have you? McGonagall says the champions get awarded points according to how well they've done the tasks." Fred informed.

"Who are the judges?" Harry asked the twins, but Hermione was the one to answer. "Well, the Heads of the participating schools are always on the panel. Because all three of them were injured during the Tournament of 1792, when a cockatrice the champions were supposed to be catching went on a rampage." she sighed before explaining her knowledge. "It's all in _Hogwarts, A History_. Though, of course, that book's not entirely reliable. _A Revised History of Hogwarts_ would be a more accurate title. Or _A Highly Biased and __**Selective **__History of Hogwarts Which Glosses Over the Nastier Aspects of the School." _I breathed deeply, wanting to run out to the abandoned Quidditch pitch, grab a beater's bat and threaten to hit the first house elf I see if it meant Hermione would shut up about them.

"What are you on about?" asked the dullest Weasley. "House elves! Not once in over a thousand pages, does _Hogwarts, A History_ mention that we are all colluding in the oppression of a hundred slaves!" Over the past couple of weeks, Hermione had lost quite a bit of my respect. I was all for taking a stand for something you believed in, but her method was excruciatingly flawed. Sure she would inform people, but she would also pressure them into buying a badge.

I got off easy though. The twins refused to buy any, and although we hadn't really talked since they hired me, they told Hermione that they wouldn't have any of their employees involved in their quack campaigning.

"Listen, have you been down in the kitchens, Hermione?" George asked. "No, of course not. I hardly think students are supposed to-" "Well, we **have**. Loads of times, to nick food. And we've met them, and they're **happy**. They think they've got the best job in the world-" "That's because they're uneducated and brainwashed!"

The owls saved my sanity, shutting up Hermione's rant about biased assumptions instead of logic which is unfathomably out of character for her.

Hedwig swooped down on Harry's shoulder and stuck her leg out for him to take the letter. We all huddled forward so he could read it to us at a low yet audible volume.

"Nice try, Harry.

I'm back in the country and well hidden. I want you to keep me posted on everything that's going on at Hogwarts. Don't use Hedwig, keep changing owls, and don't worry about me, just watch out for yourself. But I'm sure Adhara already told you that. Don't forget what I said about your scar.

Sirius."

I leaned back, giving Harry a look that said 'I told you so'. "Why d'you have to keep changing owls?" Ron whispered. "Hedwig'll attract too much attention. She stands out. A snowy owl that keeps returning wherever he's hiding… I mean, they're not native birds, are they?"

That letter from dad set the tone for the day: completely carefree. I was so content, that I didn't even get nervous when we gathered at the entrance hall to meet our guests.

"Weasley, straighten your hat. Miss Patil, take that ridiculous thing out of your hair." Parvati took out her butterfly clip as McGonagall stopped in front of me. "I suppose you would look peculiar without your piercing, Miss Elliot?" I smirked at my head of house and nodded. "Absolutely." "Very well, then." she answered, prying her eagle like eyes away from my nose.

"Follow me, please. First years in front… no pushing…" We lined up in front of the castle even though it was freezing outside. I looked up to the moon as I blew into my cupped hands, appreciating its dull light.

"Nearly six! How d'you reckon they're coming? The train?" Ron queried. "I doubt it." debunked the know it all. "How then? Broomsticks?" Harry wondered, causing me to shake my head at their mediocre guesses.

"I don't think so… not from that far away…" "A portkey? Or they could Apparate- maybe you're allowed to do it under seventeen wherever they come from?" I **could have sworn** I told him they were from France by now. "You can't Apparate inside the Hogwarts grounds, how often do I have to tell you?" Hermione snapped at Ron so I didn't have to.

No one said anything for a while, our heads jerking up when Dumbledore spoke from behind us. "Aha! Unless I am very much mistaken, the delegations from Beauxbatons approaches!" An outburst of 'where?'s filled the crowd, curious heads turning from side to side.

"There!" shouted an upperclassman, pointing under the moon. "It's a dragon!" shrieked a first year, but the ditzy Dennis Creevey shot her down. "Don't be stupid… it's a flying house!" He was right. Coming towards us was an impressive sized house being pulled by 12 golden winged horses that had to be three times the average size.

The first three rows pushed back into us, forcing us to step back. The horses slammed down onto our lush green grass, stomping on it with their Fanged Frisbee sized hooves. The carriage stopped, directly in front of us, my heart skipping a beat at the sight of my former school crest. Two golden wands, crossed like swords with six glittery stars shooting out of them.

I almost gasped as the door opened, some boy I didn't know, hopping down to unfold a set of stairs from the bottom. Once he stepped aside, I knew who was coming out first.

My peers gasped at her stature which was even bigger than Hagrid. Her large nose was turned to the sky, rivaling the unnatural head tilt of Draco Malfoy. She was dressed in what she considered to be the nines and I realized that she hadn't changed. Not one bit.

Behind us, Dumbledore started a round of applause that everyone participated in, but me.

She walked forward, extending an overly decorated hand for Dumbledore to kiss. "My dear Madame Maxime. Welcome to Hogwarts." "Dumbly-dorr." she rumbled. "I 'ope I find you well?" "In excellent form, I thank you."

"My pupils." she beckoned to those still in the carriage and out they came. A little more than a dozen and I stood stiffly as I recognized half of them.

Before I turned away, I could see them shivering in their pale blue silk outfits. Appreciatively, I pulled my cloak tighter, not missing that thin fabric, no matter how luxurious it may be.

"'as Kakaroff arrived yet?" Madame Maxime asked. "He should be here any moment. Would you like to wait here and greet him or would you prefer to step inside and warm up a trifle?" she didn't hesitate at all. "Warm up, I think… But ze 'orses-" "Our Care of Magical Creatures teacher will be delighted to take care of them, the moment he has returned from dealing with a slight situation that has arisen with some of his other-er-charges." Dumbledore assured.

"Skrewts." Ron whispered to Harry. "My steeds require-er-forceful handling. Zey are very strong…" I nearly huffed, allowing my spiteful bias to seep through until I remembered she didn't know Hagrid **or** his capabilities.

"I assure you that Hagrid will be well up to the job." Our headmaster smiled up to her and she allowed it to quell her worry. "Very well. Will you please inform zis 'Agrid zat ze 'orses drink only single-malt whiskey?" "It will be attended to." I frowned wondering why she'd put that burden on us. Why didn't they drink their own single-malt whiskey? Truthfully, I had no idea what that was, but it sounded pricey.

"Come." she instructed to her students and we parted to let them through and into the castle.

I sighed in relief after they passed, hoping that one wouldn't recognize me and one would. Not really caring about the rest.

* * *

><p><strong>RandomAsRainbows<strong>: Ha! That was another good one. Wow, you seem to know about this story better than I do. Even though I'm going off the books, tell me what's going to happen in the next chapter, or what you'd like to happen.

**patattack:** Thank you so much! You reading this means a lot to me.

**Megirl97:** That is one of the dumbest words of all time. It means raider which isn't a good thing. But teenage boys aren't the smartest, now are they?

**Cal26lum:** I have no recollection of what we were talking about, but you're welcome.

**No Hugs Peach:** No, I don't. Not that I'm ungrateful or anything, but why can't you ever review about the actual chapter. I never know what you're saying half the time.


	13. Bordel De Merde

**Disclaimer:** I was going to put something clever here, but I forgot. So Joanne, please don't sue me.

**A/N: I know I keep saying this, but things are ACTUALLY starting to pick up from here. Also, I hope you like my new OC. There are now pics of him on my profile.**

My mind was wandering during Durmstrang's subterranean arrival.

I didn't know if I wanted to escape from to the safety of my bed or face my demons in the Great Gall.

I chose the latter, rushing into the Great Hall before the trio. I wasn't surprised to see the Beauxbatons students under the blue banners of the Ravenclaw table. Anything else would have clashed with their outfits.

"Good evening, ladies and gentlemen, ghosts and- most particularly- guests." began Dumbledore, his eyes twinkling toward the foreigners. "I have great pleasure in welcoming you all to Hogwarts. I hope and trust that your stay here will be both comfortable and enjoyable." A laugh could be heard from one of the Beauxbatons girls and I remembered why I didn't want them to be here.

"No one's making you stay!" Hermione whispered and I grinned, elated that she felt my pain. "Join the club, Hermione."

"The tournament will be officially opened at the end of the feast. I now invite you all to eat, drink and make yourselves at home!"

Eating always made me feel better, but my stomach was turning from the sight of things I didn't recognize. "What's that?" Ron pointed at the fish stew. "Bouillabaisse." Hermione answered. "Bless you." I snorted at his response, the chewed corn in my mouth threatened to breach my nose.

"It's **French**." she corrected as I finished chewing. "It's pretty good. I used to like it, but it's been a while and I don't know if my stomach could handle it anymore." Hermione nodded, agreeing with my acquired taste. "I had it on holiday, summer before last. It's very nice." Ron looked between us before reaching for the Black pudding. "I'll take your word for it."

Discreetly, I kept glancing at the Ravenclaw table, but I stopped after Hagrid passed by, Fleur Delacour was making her way over.

Even without her scarf, I was able to make the connection that it was her who had laughed at Dumbledore.

I had nothing against her personally, but I was sure she didn't like me. "Excuse me, are you wanting ze bouillabaisse?" she looked at me with no sense of confusion. She knew who I was, yet she kept smiling.

"Yeah, have it." Harry answered over his shoulder as she stood behind him and a very stoic Ron. "You have finished wiz it?" "Yeah." Ron panted. "Yeah, it was excellent."

She leaned over them to pick up the bowl and carry it two tables over. Ron stared after her like she was a piece of meat. "She's a **veela**!" Ron nearly shouted, turning back to us. "Of course she isn't!" Hermione denied, but I had to interfere. "Yes, she is." Ron somehow tore his gaze from her retreating form and focused on me instead.

"What?" Hermione asked, willing me to go on. "A quarter. Her and her sister."

Ron grinned, craning his neck to keep an eye on her. "They don't make them like that at Hogwarts!" I raised both my eyebrows, wondering if that was his revenge for me calling him ugly back at the burrow. Either way, it hurt.

"They make them okay at Hogwarts." responded Harry, peering at the Ravenclaw table as well. "When you've both put your eyes back in, you'll be able to see who's just arrived." Hermione informed and I looked down the table at the twins to see their reactions.

Having the same idea, they caught my eye, simultaneously making the gesture of slitting a throat.

Ludo Bagman and Barty Crouch had joined the teachers' table. Both were pretty slimy Ministry workers, but neither held a candle to their mutual employer. "What are **they** doing here?" Harry asked and I answered. "To aid the French in making my life a living hell." Hermione pursed her lips, giving Harry a real answer. "They organized the Triwizard Tournament, didn't they? I suppose they wanted to be here to see it start."

Desserts came and across from me, I watched Ron playing with a pasty blue dish before pushing it to his left, presumably for Fleur to see. I snorted the word 'pathetic' into my hot chocolate and Hermione stifled a laugh.

When we were all done, Dumbledore took to the podium, pleasing all who cared for this ridiculous death match. "The moment has come. The Triwizard Tournament is about to start. I would like to say a few words of explanation before we bring in the casket-" I blinked profusely, wondering what he meant. "-just to clarify the procedure that we will be following this year. But first, let me introduce, for those who do not know them, Mr. Bartemius Crouch, Head of the Department of International Magical Cooperation." There was a light peppering of applause. "and Mr. Ludo Bagman, Head of the Department of Magical Games and Sports." He received much more applause, but none of it was from me. They were both men of a despicable nature.

"Mr. Bagman and Mr. Crouch have worked tirelessly over the last few months on the arrangements for the Triwizard Tournament and they will be joining myself, Professor Karkaroff and Madame Maxime on the panel that will judge the champions' efforts. The casket then, if you please, Mr. Filch." Expecting something out of an Edgar Allen Poe short story, I released my breath as Filch carried in an ancient bejeweled chest.

"The instructions for the tasks the champions will face this year have already been examined by Mr. Crouch and Mr. Bagman and they have made the necessary arrangements for each challenge. There will be three tasks, spaced throughout the school year, and they will test the champions in many different ways… their magical prowess- their daring- their powers of deductions- and, of course their ability to cope with danger." He ceased to speak and the silence was chilling. I wasn't even able to be comforted by the ambiance of the sound of breathing or shifting because there wasn't any.

"As you know, three champions compete in the tournament. One from each of the participating schools. They will be marked on how well they perform each of the tournament tasks and the champion with the highest total after task three will win the Triwizard Cup. The champions will be chosen by an impartial selector: The Goblet of Fire." Filch sat down the trunk on the table and Dumbledore tapped it three times with his wand.

Slowly, it creaked open and he pulled a large wooden cup, probably big enough for Madame Maxime to hold and not look like she was drinking out of a Barbie's toy cup.

It was completely plain, except for the blue flames coming from it. Dumbledore closed the 'casket' and placed the cup on top of it so everyone could see. "Anybody wishing to submit themselves as champion must write their name and school clearly upon a slip of parchment and drop it into the goblet. Aspiring champions have twenty four hours in which to put their names forward. Tomorrow night, Halloween, the goblet will return the names of the three it has judged most worthy to represent their schools. The goblet will be placed in the entrance hall tonight, where it will be freely accessible to all those wishing to compete.

To ensure that no underage student yields to temptation, I will be drawing an Age Line around the Goblet of Fire once it has been placed in the entrance hall. Nobody under the age of seventeen will be able to cross this line.

Finally, I wish to impress upon any of you wishing to compete, that this tournament is not to be entered into lightly. Once a champion has been selected by the Goblet of Fire, he or she is obliged to see the tournament through to the end. The placing of your name in the goblet constitutes a binding, magical contract. There can be no change of heart once you have become a champion. Please be very sure, therefore, that you are wholeheartedly prepared to play before you drop your name into the goblet. Now, I think it is time for bed. Good night to you all."

* * *

><p>The only reason I let Hermione drag me out of bed in the morning was because it was Halloween. Usually, I would never get up this early on a Saturday.<p>

I had forgotten all about the Goblet of Fire. "Anyone put their name in yet?" Ron asked a girl who was one of many standing around what I guessed to be the Age Line. "All the Durmstrang lot, but I haven't seen anyone from Hogwarts yet."

"Bet some of them put it in last night after we'd all gone to bed." Harry suggested. "I would've if it had been me… wouldn't have wanted everyone watching. What if the goblet just gobbled you right back out again?" I shook my head at him. "I don't think it works-"

I closed my mouth, hearing the most unforgettable laughs and turned around to see Lee Jordan, Fred and George running down the stairs with mischievous grins on their faces. "Done it." Fred whispered as he passed us. "Just taken it."

"What?" Ron asked his brother. "The Aging Potion, dung brains." I nodded in appreciation. "Ooh. Dung brains, I've got to use that sometime."

"One drop each." George carried on, gesturing to the three of them. "We only need to be a few months older." "We're going to split the thousand Galleons between the three of us if one of us wins." Lee boasted.

"I'm not sure this is going to work, you know. I'm sure Dumbledore will have thought of this." As customary, we ignored Hermione the pessimist and the boys steadied their selves. "Good luck!" I called out even though they were a few feet in front of us.

Fred jumped in first, George after. Just as Lee was about to join them, a loud sizzling noise filled our premises and the twins were thrown out of the circle where they landed at our feet. My hand flew to my mouth as I watched them turn into old men, right before our eyes.

Together we all laughed, even the twins joined in after they got to their feet and processed exactly what happened to them. "I did warn you." Dumbledore borderline snickered from behind us. "I suggest you both go up to Madam Pomfrey. She is already tending to Miss Fawcett, a Ravenclaw, and Mr. Summers of Hufflepuff, both of whom decided to age themselves up a little too. Though I must say, neither of their beards is anything like as fine as yours." I let out a cackle at the Professor. They way he said it, he sounded like a beard connoisseur.

I stepped forward to stroke their beards as they passed. "I always liked my men a bit… mature." I couldn't keep a straight face as I said it, causing them to swat my hands away.

* * *

><p>Walking into the Great Hall, I was encased in a sort of warmth that only Halloween decorations could supply.<p>

"There's a rumor going around that Warrington got up early and put his name in. That big bloke from Slytherin who looks like a sloth." informed Dean before we could even sit down. I had no idea who he was talking about, but Harry was disgusted by it. "We can't have a Slytherin champion!"

"And the Hufflepuffs are talking about Diggory, but I wouldn't have thought he'd have wanted to risk his good looks." Seamus added.

"Listen!" Hermione shouted, pointed out to the entrance hall. Cheering could be heard as my role model, Miss Angelina Johnson walked in with a blush on her brown cheeks.

"Well, I've done it! Just put my name in!" I gawked at her as she took a seat. I almost couldn't process what was happening right now. First she's the perfect chaser (besides Troy) and now, she might be the Gryffindor champion? If I ever had a girl crush, this was it. She was everything I wanted to be.

"Congratulations Angelina!" I spread my arms out wide before I even knew what I was doing. She didn't even know me.

Luckily, she leaned in and returned the hug, so that I wouldn't seem like a downright creep.

"You're kidding!" Ron laughed, yet not tauntingly.

"Are you seventeen, then?" Harry asked her. "'Course she is, can't see a beard, can you?" she nodded to the both of them. "I had my birthday last week."

'Lucky bastard!' I thought to myself, but she wasn't lucky at all. By the circumstances, perhaps, but not if she got picked. "Well I'm glad someone from Gryffindor's entering. I really hope you get it, Angelina!" "Thanks, Hermione." It was obvious that she didn't really know how to handle the attention.

"Yeah, better you than Pretty Boy Diggory." Seamus spoke on behalf of the entire table when he said that.

"What're we doing today, then?" Ron asked as we were leaving the Great Hall. "We haven't been down to visit Hagrid yet." I cringed at the thought, not really wanting to be bothered with the skrewts today.

We were almost to the front doors, still undecided when the Beauxbatons students exited the hall.

Knowing how Ron was… well… Ron, it was the perfect distraction I needed to sneak off upstairs.

"IthinkI'mgoingtogotakeanap." I blurted out before starting a quick paced walk around the corner and towards the busy stairwell.

I panicked, hearing footsteps behind me, but I dared not turn around. "Excuse me, Adhara."

I sighed and stepped out of Hermione's way, slowing down as I made it up a good solid seven steps.

"So it **is** you!" I screamed and as it is common knowledge, I lose control of all motor skills when I am frightened.

In this particular case, my ankles ended up mimicking the viscosity of jello, sending me to my knees on the enchanted staircase.

I turned around, ready to yell so loud, it would rip my stalker's face off, but I knew it would be a kick in the bollocks to the angles that carved it. "You wouldn't happen to be trying to avoid me, would you?"

His accent had always been different. Not French or British because he had lived in America, I remember from the ages of 4-11 when his parents moved back to France so he could go to the school his parents went to. The school where his parents fell in love.

"I am loving the white, darling." He complimented, but I took no notice.

"Corian? Corian Jean-Roul?" I loved that name and the way it just rolled off the tongue.

Although his parents were irrevocably in love, they could never agree on anything. His mum wanted to name him Corin and his dad wanted the name Julian. Same with his French/Spanish hybrid of a last name.

"Do you know anyone else who could be this handsome? Except Roux, perhaps. He's grown to be quite easy on the eyes, you know. Much like yourself." I accepted the extended hand to pull me out of my ridiculous position on the stairs.

"Really? How is he?" Roux's real name was Alexander and was his younger brother who was in my year and my best friend at Beauxbatons. "The same. You'd never tell how cute he was with his nose being buried in a book all the time." I wasn't surprised. Roux was a disastrous mixture of Neville and Hermione.

"Well, tell him I said bonjour." Overlooking how dejected he looked due to how dismissive I'm sure I sounded, I took a chance to have a good look at Corian. I had only seen him out of my peripheral since he arrived, so in comparison, this was like soft core porn to me.

He towered over me at a good 6' 1'' maybe 6' 2''. His hair was somehow messy, yet in place. The color of his hair and eyes was a striking combination of black and blue, his eyes being blue of course. And despite the rest of him being tidy, he sported a 5 o'clock shadow which I found ridiculous on other men, but somehow it suited him. "Alright then." he nodded before taking a step back. "But before I go, would you like to catch up sometime? Bordel de merde?"

I giggled, not thinking he would remember our inside joke and I nodded. "Bordel de merde."

* * *

><p>Seated in the Great Hall for dinner, I found it difficult not to blatantly stare at the Ravenclaw table. It wasn't until the trio showed up, that I snapped out of it.<p>

No one seemed to have much of an appetite compared to yesterday. Maybe everyone was too anxious to see who the champions would be.

"Well, the goblet is almost ready to make its decision. I estimate that it requires one more minute. Now, when the champions' names are called, I would ask them please to come up to the top of the Hall, walk along the staff table, and go through into the next chamber where they will be receiving their first instructions." My eyebrows perked up at his instruction. I never noticed there was a door there.

My heart mimicked the rhythm of a snare as all the candles in the hall were extinguished, save the ones safe inside the jack-o-lanterns. The brightest thing in the room was now the goblet, flames shimmering a blinding white and pale blue.

In silence, we waited for the minute to pass, which seemingly took forever.

Though I could barely see their faces, my eyes swept the teachers' table to see the anxious eyes of the heads of the visiting schools. Bagman's teeth were glistening in the light with an eerie smile. And because of how slouched he was in his chair, I couldn't even make out anything on Crouch's face.

Unexpectedly, the flames in the goblet turned red as sparks flew from it. A sputtering noise, followed by a loud bang emitting from it as a charred piece of parchment fluttered down like a feather.

We gasped as Dumbledore caught it, the flames going back to their icy state. "The champion for Durmstrang will be Viktor Krum."

What a surprise. He's the youngest professional quidditch player, he caught the snitch at the World Cup **and** he's the champion for his school? Was there a such thing as being too lucky?

I rolled my eyes as Ron clapped louder than anyone else as Krum stomped his way from the Slytherin table up to the staff table. As he disappeared behind the well camouflaged door, I found myself nervous for the other two champions. Krum could be eaten alive and I wouldn't even blink. I just didn't want any of my friends getting hurt.

"The champion for Beauxbatons…" Against my will, I could feel my foot tapping beneath the table. "…is Fleur Delacour!" My posture softened and I even developed a smile.

As she made her way up, I looked at her schoolmates, some of which who were actually crying. Corian just sat there pleased.

Now I only had to worry about Angelina's fate. "The Hogwarts champion…" I looked down the table to see her with fingers crossed. "…is Cedric Diggory!" The cheering from the Hufflepuff table was more than distracting enough for anyone to notice my grin or me wiping my hands on my jeans.

"Excellent!" Dumbledore said after we all calmed down. "Well, we now have our three champions. I am sure I can count upon all of you, including the remaining students from Beauxbatons and Durmstrang, to give your champions every ounce of support you can muster. By cheering your champion on, you will contribute in a very real-" Behind our headmaster, I could see red sparks preceding another piece of parchment being launched from the Goblet. Hesitantly, his fingers reached out for the singed paper. His blue eyes had to have reread the name four times over before he said the last thing I ever wanted to hear.

"**Harry Potter**."

* * *

><p><strong>Megirl97:<strong> I think Adhara would agree with you about boys being dumb.

**patattack:** I'm glad at least one of us enjoyed it.

**ellabell:** Done.

**AddictedtoHPForever:** Done.

**RandomAsRainbows:** Something along those lines will happen and I really can't wait to write it all!

**There's a link to a few pics of Corian on my profile!**

**Translation: **_Bordel de merde_ = For Fuck's Sake


	14. Guts and Guidance

Disclaimer: **Ugh, I don't own it. **

**A/N: I should have posted this on Tom Felton or Hermione's Birthday, but whatever. They know I love them. **

In an instant, my mind flashed back to my most cherished moments with my god brother.

The day we met, the day he welcomed me on the train, all the times he took my advice for granted, the countless amount of times we flew together, the night we became siblings and most importantly, the night I had detention and I silently vowed to protect him.

Right now, fate was putting a giant wedge in that.

"Harry Potter! Harry! Up here, if you please!" My heart plummeted further down in my stomach as I felt his robes brush against me on his way up to the table.

My eyes stayed fixated on the black silk tablecloth, not daring to watch Harry disappear behind that door. Not daring to believe a shred of this was real.

In that back room, Crouch and Bagman were going to cite the rules, give Harry a slap on the hand and send him back out.

I didn't get my reality, nor did I join everyone else in the Gryffindor tower to wait for Harry's return.

No, I needed to find solace in nature tonight.

* * *

><p>I will admit, I felt better after I returned to the tower at midnight, but not completely. I should have waited for Harry. To see if he was still a champion or just so I could be the shoulder he could lean on in case Hermione and Ron were slacking on the job.<p>

I woke up early so I could apologize and possibly dote upon my brother.

Throwing on a sloppy combination of the first pairs of jeans, shirt and hoodie I saw, I rushed down the annoying amount of 7 flights of stairs before speed walking into the Great Hall.

My eyes skimmed the Gryffindor table, looking for red hair. Where there was a Weasley, there was Harry.

But not today. "Where's Harry?" Ron shrugged, but not enough to remove the massive chip on his shoulder.

He grunted in response, not even bothering to look at me. I could see that he was only picking at his meal, making it obvious that something had happened after the Halloween feast. "Is he still the champion?" I pleaded, trying to meet his gaze.

I furrowed my brows deeper, concerned with the malicious look he was giving me. "Bugger off." He growled before dropping his fork onto his plate and stomping out of my sight.

It felt as if minutes passed as I sat there with my mouth ajar, trying to comprehend the strange happenings of the past 12 hours or so. "You might want to close your mouth before boys start getting the wrong idea."

Not wanting this boy in particular to get the wrong idea, I shut my mouth and turned to give him a small close lipped smile. "Am I interrupting something?" Obviously, it wasn't convincing enough.

Corian looked over his shoulder to watch the rudest Weasley disappear through the doors at the end of the hall. "Uh, no. Perfect timing actually." He propped his chin on his fist before examining me with a smile on his editorial worthy face.

"So have you thought about my offer?" I was captivated by the invisible circles his incredibly long fingers were tracing on the tabletop.

"What offer?" I asked, not really remembering anything that happened yesterday, prior to the Goblet's peculiar decision. "To catch up."

I had promised him that? "Now?" He sat straighter, lifting his face from his hand and nodding. "That is, unless you're busy." I was busy in my opinion. Needing to find Harry and possibly Ron so I could get him to apologize, one way or another.

But who am I to turn down the attention of a friend that I haven't seen in years? Never mind the fact that he's downright gorgeous.

"No. Where did you have in mind?" His content smirk made me feel slightly better about postponing my checkup on Harry.

* * *

><p>"What's so funny?" He shook his head, refusing to say a word. "No, tell me!" I nearly pleaded, really wanting to know.<p>

"Do you remember when you found out you could try out for the Quidditch team in your second year and you brought a vacuum cleaner that you enchanted? Then to humor you, the captain **still** let you try out!" Bringing him to the Quidditch pitch, I should have known he would mention that little stunt I pulled.

"I wasn't half bad either." He nodded in agreement. "No, no you weren't." His voice still had the tone of laughter in it.

I smiled, remembering my time spent in France. "Or the time you started a food fight with that girl in your year because she took your seat." His head jerked up in surprise as if he'd forgotten all about it.

"I did not start that. You did." I thought back to it and my memory didn't seem to agree with Corian.

_It was customary for Roux and I to sit with Corian for one meal a day; that meal being dinner. This… cake faced harlot plopped her bony arse in Corian's spot like it was no big deal. _

"_Excuse me?" "What?" She asked, rolling her eyes. _

"_I was saving that seat for a friend." I could feel Roux tense up next to me. _

"_What are you? Eleven? Don't you think you're too old to be saving spots?" she scoffed condescendingly. _

_I leaned forward to make sure I could get through that thick skull of hers. "I'm __**twelve**__. And I say you move." _

_Not by my hand, her goblet tipped over, spilling its contents all over her silk robes. Quickly, I looked behind her to see Corian laughing his head off with the rest of the kids, only __he__ was brandishing his wand. _

_I was just going to keep harassing her until she got the point, but no, Corian had to start an all out war. _

_Before ducking under the table, I had enough time to glare at the sexy semi-spaniard._

_I could hear the milk in my goblet splashing on the flesh and robes of whoever was sitting behind me and like a true domino effect, most of the students were wielding turkey legs like swords and using spoons as catapults for their peas. _

_Mid-throw a fistful of mashed potatoes, I stopped to watch the girl from earlier run out of the hall. Her red knickers were visible through her skirt, eliciting laughter from all the students. Except Roux of course. He blushed furiously, especially when he saw her in the halls, which is how he got his nickname. _

I laughed remembering how I threw out every pair of colored underwear I had, just in case she tried to get revenge someday. She never did, obviously (of course not, that would've been suicide), but to this day, everything in my top drawer is either white, black, cream or grey.

I will never forget mum's face when she saw me carrying an armful of bright undies to the trash.

"Oh sure, Corian. I knocked it over without touching it." I shook my head while saying it. It seemed impossible back then, but I'm sure of my abilities now. Especially after detention with Snape last year, but whatever, I know he did it. Roux's my witness!

"Oh my god!" He spoke quietly.

"What?" I asked, suddenly paranoid of our surroundings.

"You just lied to me." My lips were parted in confusion as I tried to wrap my brain around me lying without knowing I did. Was that even possible? To accidently lie?

"You bit your lip after you said it. That means you lied!" How does he know that? "But the question is, what about?" He looked frantic now, his messy locks shaking as he talked with his hands.

"The whole world knows that I started that food fight-" "HA!" I shouted, taking my hand out of the warm confines of my pocket to point at him, but he just waved his hand and shook his head like what he just confessed was old news.

"So what could you have been lying about?" I was as eager to figure it out as he was. I loved when he got all Freudian like this. It was like watching an episode of Scooby Doo and trying to figure out who the bad guy was within the first five minutes. "Unless, you weren't lying!"

I clapped, proud that my friend had discovered a fact that was blindingly obvious all along. "Brav-" "The body language of lying and keeping a secret are akin, you know."

My smile dropped as he ran his fingers over the wood in between us. "Adhara, How come you didn't tell me you could use wandless magic? You have to show me!"

There was no humor, or excitement in his voice. He sounded sad almost, but he had no right. Sure he used to be my friend, but he's only been back in my life for 24 hours now. That was not a fair question.

"Sorry that you're not my priority, Corian. I haven't even told my dad for crying out loud." His eyes lit up and his brows rose to emphasize the effect, catching my spilled secret.

"Your mum got married?" He seemed closer somehow and his gaze more intense.

Now for obvious reasons, I could not allow this conversation to progress in the direction he was steering it. "I-I've only done it once, but I'm sure with a little guts and guidance, I could do more."

Not shaken by the backtracking of our conversation, he nodded, gesturing to the two of us. "Well, you've definitely got guts and I've got guidance." I could do nothing more than give him the same closed lip smile as I did during breakfast.

As we walked back to the castle for lunch, I couldn't ignore the weight in my stomach that I had just bitten off more than I could chew.

* * *

><p>Seeing as I wouldn't be able to figure out who put Harry's name in the Goblet and punish them properly, the only thing I could do was support him in this great endeavor. Perhaps it wasn't as bad as I was making it out to be. I mean, Dumbledore's allowing it to happen and he said Bagman and Crouch ensured the safety of the tournament's revival. And if they were wrong, they'd be the ones to blame, right?<p>

The image of their ashamed faces on the cover of the _Prophet_ with equally humiliating headlines has calmed me down significantly, knowing I'd be the first to point fingers if even something accidentally knocks Harry's glasses off during a task.

I tried to act surprised when Harry pulled me aside that night to tell me he had written to dad. Proudly and possibly dramatically, I pulled him into a hug, knowing that if I wasn't positive, his whole resolve would crumble.

I continued my half staged- half genuine optimism into the next day during Care of Magical Creatures.

The skrewts had grown to be a yard long and Hagrid figured that they'd stop attacking each other if they had some sort of physical activity, so it was up to us to take them for a walk.

I grabbed a leash and strapped it around the middle of a skrewt and lead it a bit towards the Forbidden Forest. There, I let it walk wherever it wanted, too lazy to guide it anymore.

Far to my left, I heard the familiar sputtering noise and turned just in time to see Ron being dragged to his knees when his skrewt flew forward a few feet.

I laughed loudly, getting revenge for how he unnecessarily he treated me yesterday and for how I found out he was treating Harry because he was stupid enough to believe that Harry was behind the submission of his name.

To rub it in his face further, I wrapped the leash around my wrist thrice, and braced myself like an Olympic skier as my skrewt began to sputter.

I could either come out of this looking like a complete idiot, face down in the mud, or my 4th grade assignment of having to research a sport from the Winter Olympics would actually pay off.

My feet were spread and knees were bent, my unused arm held out behind me as I made sure my weight was being supported by the heels of my feet. _**BLAST!**_ My skrewt was off and me with it. The mud splattering around me as my body was propelled forward.

I unlocked my joints as the skrewt come to a halt, a few feet ahead. "WHOO!" I yelled and the few classmates who weren't looking at me before, definitely were now and they were in for a show because I could already hear my skrewt sputtering again and I felt like trying something I believe was called a 360.

* * *

><p>Harry had been making it difficult for me to tune out the negativity he was giving off. The way he acted hesitantly around Ron like he wanted to say something and the way he would stare at Cedric Diggory with envy. It was just too much.<p>

I tried to cheer him up when Dad was taking forever to answer him by making a joke about him being desperate enough to eat the owl. Harry didn't find it funny and I didn't blame him. In any situation, one adjective I couldn't apply to my father was desperate.

Walking down to the dungeons with Hermione and Harry, I found myself feeling like an intruder. A symbol of the reinvention of the word "trio". A replacement; something I had not intended.

I was fine with being the "plus one", but I felt wrong with how "normal" we had been acting since Ron decided to stick his head up his arse.

"Like them, Potter?" The voice of my blindingly blonde cousin brought me back to my surroundings. He must've been talking about the pins that hung from his and his fellow Slytherin's robes.

They were bright yellow with black lettering that read 'Support CEDRIC DIGGORY. The REAL Hogwarts Champion!' "And this isn't all they do- look!" He lifted a pale finger to his chest, pressing the pin lightly, so it now read 'POTTER STINKS' which glowed a sewer green.

While we stood there unamused, they laughed louder and faker than Peeves ever could. "Oh **very** funny." Hermione agreed patronizingly. "Really **witty**."

Digging in his pocket, Draco held one out to her. "Want one, Granger? I've got loads. But don't touch my hand, now. I've just washed it, you see; don't want a Mudblood sliming it up."

I had warned him. Ok, I had only done it in my head, but Draco should've known by now that I was sick of his racist bullshit! "_Accio pins_!" I shouted, using the newly learned spell to rip them from their robes.

They yelled it protest as I let them fall to my feet. They stepped forward with their wands out until I shouted "_Incendio_!" setting the buttons ablaze.

They were all obviously upset with my defiance, but Draco was absolutely cross. "You bitch!" He lifted his wand to shout "_Densaugeo_!" and I sidestepped it, barely distracted by Harry yelling "_Furnunculus_!" Despite the fact that both spells were performed at close range, the two boys missed.

Goyle sprouted boils across his fat Neanderthal face and Hermione's front teeth were trying to achieve the length of a walrus'.

I wrapped my arms around her so she could bury her face in my shoulder and hide from the cruel Slytherins. "And what is all this noise about?" Snape surveyed us as the students from his house tried to answer him all at once.

They all fell quiet as he pointed to Malfoy. "Explain."

"Elliot, Black- whatever her name is- attacked us, sir." I felt Hermione stiffen in my hold as I tried my hardest to maintain a poker face. If I reacted, then everyone would know it was true.

"She had no intent-" "-and he hit Goyle- look-" He took a moment to survey the brute. "Hospital Wing, Goyle." The professor turned, taking a step back into the classroom, but I spoke up, ignoring the snickering from Pansy and her followers.

"Excuse me, Professor, but Malfoy's spell didn't exactly miss." Hermione turned so that her teeth were in his view. He walked back taking a good look at her, blinking before turning his gaze on me, then shrugged. "I see no difference."

Surprised by her strength, I stumbled at her push against my chest. Once I regained my balance, I took off right after her. Luckily I got to her before she had to turn any corners because her face was buried in her hands which would have resulted in her running into a few walls.

I let her hands stay where they were, guiding her to the Hospital Wing with my hand on her back. I ushered her in, surprising Madam Pomfrey by taking her to one of the beds in the back.

"You can bring her over here, Miss Elliot." The bed she was patting was right next to the one that held Goyle, so I shook my head at the healer.

"Believe me when I say, it's better for everyone in this room if we stayed where we are." she frowned, realizing that both injuries must've been related somehow. "I'll be right over."

I stayed with Hermione after Madam Pomfrey reversed the spell, as she was recommended to stay through the night.

I held her hand as she wiped the thousandth tear from her cheek. Not being the best in comforting others, I chose to remain silent. I didn't want to disturb her and hopefully, she was satisfied with my presence and the fact that my hand hasn't left hers since 5 minutes ago, which was some sort of record for touching another human being that wasn't my boyfriend for me.

I felt alarmed when her eyes finally met mine and I was even more startled by her words that followed. "Why did he say that?"

I don't know if she was talking about Malfoy or Snape, but either way, she shouldn't be surprised. Neither had treated her any better in the past.

I felt guilty that I couldn't answer her, because I'm sure I couldn't supply her with the answer she wanted. Also, I was too bewildered and was still processing her question in the sanctuary of my four poster bed.

* * *

><p><strong>patattac<strong>k:That's coming up soon, so I hope you won't be waiting long.

**Megirl97**: I think Adhara would be surprised that someone considers her smart, but she'd be greatly flattered.

**Cal26lum**: Yeah, I've probably lost you as a reader, but you really shouldn't try to best me at Harry Potter trivia. I run a blog dedicated to the books and movies and practically my entire life, so it's obvious I would know a little fact like that. But like I said, you should check your facts and think before you just verbally attack me like that. This story is keeping to the books 95% and Corian is part of that 95% because Male Beauxbatons students do exist. I remember when GOF came out and I was in the theatres like WTF? Where are the Beauxbatons boys and the Durmstrang Girls? Even then, I was preferring the books over the movies, so you might want to bookmark Harry Potter Wiki or pick up a copy of GOF if you even own one. I'm glad that you've read up to this point and I'm sorry that you'll probably be too pissed off at me to respond or read this fic any longer.


	15. Are You Trying To Get Me Killed?

**Disclaimer:** Ok, you know how in Pokemon, you can't throw a Pokeball at another trainer's Pokemon? Yeah, this is just like that.

**A/N: Wow, it's been over a month since I last updated and I thoroughly apologize. Here are my excuses as to why I haven't updated:**

**1) School (even though I said it wouldn't get in the way)**

**2) Extra Curriculars**

**3) TV (Yeah yeah, I know, but at least I'm not starting a whole new fanfic and ditching this one)**

**4) Making time for my friends**

**5) Mental anguish caused by my horrible home life and the people that inhabit it.**

**6) Discouragement (I nearly broke down in tears when I received hate from an anon on my blog about this story and that put me down for a week or two. Let's cross our fingers and hope it'll never happen again)**

**So with that said, I would like to thank all my readers. Whether you review or not, for sticking around with me for so long through my ups and downs and whatnot. One minute I love you, the next I want to slit your throats. (haha, I really need to go see a therapist)**

**And without any further ado, enjoy this difficult chapter and I hope you have a very Happy Halloween! Don't forget to keep James, Lily and Nearly Headless Nick in mind on this great day.**

* * *

><p>The next day, Hermione and I bumped into Corian and to my delight, she absolutely adored him. She found his jokes funny and I swore she sighed in adoration when he initiated a conversation about the history of Beauxbatons. A topic she found most interesting.<p>

I was glad she liked him, because over the next few weeks, Corian and I picked up where we left off in our friendship. Well, not exactly, seeing as we were now to the point of linking our arms in the halls.

It was a laugh to see all the girls glaring everywhere we went. The funny thing is, that all the hate was aimed at me when Corian was the one initiating every touch, greeting and interaction between us.

Except when we went to Hagrid's so he could try skrewt skiing. That was my idea. Honestly, I just wanted to see him get his silk robes dirty, but he was surprisingly good at it.

Because it was the first one of the year, neither of us had to plan anything about going to Hogsmeade. It was like breathing air, it was a given.

I was excited about showing Corian around, especially since he was so eager. Also, it was a bonus that he changed into his Muggle attire. It was a flattering change, but it was still something one wouldn't want to get dirty.

The whole way there, I teased him about copying me by wearing a peacoat. "Sailors! Male sailors were the first to wear them. So you and the cheap fashion magazines you subscribe to are the copycats. Not me, or any other sensibly dressed man." My mouth was open in amusement as I held the door of the Three Broomsticks open for him.

"Ok, . Why don't you go ask the barmaid for four butterbeers." He didn't go, turning to look at me inquisitively.

"Why four?" I smirked before pushing him off into the crowd. "Believe me! You're gonna want more than one!" I smiled and surveyed the bar I'd only seen twice before.

To my right, I saw my bosses, Lee Jordan and Ron and decided to make my way over, so I wouldn't have to wait for Corian alone.

My hand was halfway up to wave to them when I was bumped into too harshly to be accidental. "Watch your step."

Those three words, that horrible accent and the giggles that followed was enough to get my blood boiling. "I think it's you who should be watching her step Ameile."

Dramatically, they turned around in unison, glaring daggers down at me from the height advantage their expensive heels provided.

She looked exactly the same. Long straight raven hair with dark eyes and lashes to match. All of it contrasting with the paleness of her skin. Never in her life did she have a blemish on her pretty face until I pounded it into the marble floor of our dining hall.

Obviously the wounds had healed, but now, her face was no longer indifferent, but sneering. I had scarred her demeanor instead of her flesh.

"Oh, you…" She started, adding fake humor to her tone as if she didn't remember my name. "Pity, you had to be demoted to zis pigsty." The mindless droids behind her found that hilarious whereas I was struggling to remain calm.

"Yes, yes. I got demoted to a pigsty where students don't get beaten, our Headmaster is fair and actually cares for his students. But what I like most about my transfer is that I have a shit load of boy friends here and no one judges me for it. One of which has far better odds of being the Triwizard Champion than your little princess ever will." All three of their faces dropped and I stepped forward to make them more uncomfortable.

"Now Ameile, this is **my** school. I belong here. I am wanted here. So much so, that I am an exception, having been invited in person by the headmaster himself. My mother may not have any power to pull any strings on my behalf, but I know… for a fact- hypothetically speaking of course-that if I were to punch you here in this bar, in the girl's bathroom or anywhere I damn well please…" I stopped for emphasis, enjoying the disappointment in their gaze.

"I will not be expelled." Roughly, I pushed my way between them and took a seat between Fred and Lee Jordan much later than I intended.

"Hello Bossmen!" George waved and Fred grinned mischievously. "Speaking of the devil!" The three upperclassmen laughed at Lee's outburst while Ron focused elsewhere.

"What? What's so funny?" They ignored my question, Fred nudging me in my side instead. I looked up at him, silently asking to say something.

"As your first job, how about you run an errand for ickle Ronniekins in the forbidden forest tonight, love?" I looked around the table to see if he was serious. I wouldn't be surprised if Ron wanted me dead, but damn, I thought the twins liked me.

To my surprise, Ron looked upset as Fred went on. "And make sure your little boy toy doesn't follow you." Surely they were talking about Corian, but I was still stuck on the 'Forbidden Forest' part and 'errand for ickle Ronniekins'.

"Are you trying to get me killed?" George shook his head, swallowing the last of whatever had been in his cup. "Working for us comes with danger, love."

"But you know we love you, so there's nothing to worry about." Fred finished for his twin.

I looked up from the table to see Corian struggling to exit the crowd with a tray balancing 4 butterbeers. "I'll see what I can do." I stated, getting up from my seat to approach Corian just as he squeezed his way out of the sea of thirsty students.

"Midnight!" George added just as I got to Corian's side.

"That barmaid is a siren! Stroked my arm and tried to offer me the strongest ale she had." I chuckled at his first experience with Madam Rosmerta.

"But the most disturbing part is that she barely backed off when I told her I was a student." I laughed louder as we took a seat at an empty table in the corner of the pub.

My laughter died down upon remembering that my favorite drink was right in front of me, waiting to satisfy my taste buds.

Corian notices my shift in demeanor and eyes me eagerly. "Are you ready for a life changing experience?"

* * *

><p>Hours after Hogsmeade with a very thirsty Corian, I sat on my bed, going over what the twins had told me.<p>

The clock now read eleven, which was peculiar because I haven't seen Hermione since dinner. But considering how clever she is, I wouldn't be surprised if she found a loophole in our curfew in order to spend more time in the library.

I left my bed, still in my clothes from earlier and followed my instinct to trust the Weasley twins.

Knowing my way around, it was easy to dodge the Prefects on my way out. Once outside, I went to the edge of the Forbidden Forest, but didn't enter until the castle was out of sight. That distance should be enough to keep this "secret" hidden, yet close enough to the school to be considered safe.

The creatures of a volatile nature wouldn't dare tread that close to us because they were smart enough to fear humans.

It was dark in the woods, but I began humming to myself to keep calm. Something I picked up from dad on the run.

Most of the time, they'd be random tunes that had to rhythm or repetition, but every now and then, they would vaguely resemble a familiar melody. The Beatles possibly, but he would change the tune just as it started to become obvious just what he was doing.

As I trekked on, roaring filled my eardrums and to my left, I could feel a distant warmth and see a blinding light.

Quickly, I hid behind a tree, not sure of what I just walked into.

Maybe the twins wanted me dead after all.

Roaring and the crackling of flames occupied my left ear while a group of heavy footsteps occupied my right.

Not that I was planning on making myself known before, but I definitely won't be doing that now. I know there aren't any "convicted murderers" on the loose, but I'm still shaken up from Hagrid's last outburst. Not to mention, he was with a less than admirable date.

Carefully, I peeked out from behind the oak to try and figure out what it was that tried to barbecue me just moments before.

Never having seen one outside of a Hollywood film, I was rendered speechless.

Four of them, all on their scaly haunches. Their roars shook the remaining leaves and their fiery breath shot out far above the trees.

I stepped closer, keeping one hand on the tree I had hid behind, so I could get a closer look at these gorgeous overgrown reptiles.

I felt myself grow nervous as they snapped their dagger like teeth at the men trying to tame them. One in particular was completely out of control, almost breaking out of its many restraints.

I could make out the men yelling, but not the words, for I was on the opposite side of the small clearing.

Soon, the other dragons caught on to the first's rabid behavior, struggling against the force of the strong wizards. They had no other choice, but to pull out their wands and perform what I assumed to be '_stupefy' _due to how the dragons fell to the ground paralyzed.

One falling only 6 feet from where I stood, blowing my hair back with a forceful wind and nearly beckoning a shriek from my throat but lucky for me, it was being tightened too much by the hands of fear.

It didn't matter if I shrieked or not, my cover was already blown. "Adhara!" I jumped at the calling of my name and looked for the person who stole my focus away from the beast within my reach.

Walking towards me was one of my favorite Weasleys, Charlie to be exact.

I forced a smile, waving not to be rude. "The twins said that you told Ron you were interested in dragons." Although forced, my smile dropped dramatically, afraid of the many possibilities of what other details of my privacy Ron was telling his brothers.

"I think he may have exaggerated a bit." Charlie either didn't recognize my anxiety, or he didn't care. He just stood in front of me, smiling, oblivious to his many co-workers moving amongst the dragons with their wands at the ready.

It wasn't until I acknowledged the couple behind him that he seemed to snap out of his trance. "All right, Hagrid?" He greeted, stepping away from me.

The atmosphere was extremely awkward, me having broken curfew in the presence of two figures of authority. Both of which could get me into some big trouble. And for what? Just so I could see some dragons?

Quickly, I refrained from holding my head in my palms. The twins weren't trying to get me in trouble OR killed. The dragons were to be used for the tournament and they wanted me to let Harry know since Ron wasn't going to. And surely if they told him, it would sound like they were kidding or poking fun.

I sighed at the complication of this whole matter. They could've just told me! But then again, it was very nice of them to give me a reason to gawk at their older brother.

"-but, like you saw, they weren't happy, not happy at all-" "Are they always so difficult?" I asked, staring at the black spiky one that had fell before me.

"Enough to make us look like burn victims." I glanced up, specifically eyeing his patchy arms that always seemed to be exposed.

"Well, it looks good on you." Immediately, he burst out into a melodious laughter before excusing himself to rejoin his colleagues, leaving me under the scrutiny of my current teacher and former headmaster.

"Adhara, what're ye doin' 'ere?" Hagrid asked nervously.

"Oh… you know. Come to see Charlie." I furrowed my brow at my choice in words. Since when had I become such a horrible liar?

I took notice of how threatened Madame Maxime looked as she clung to Hagrid's arm and cleared her throat before leaning closer to whisper in his ear.

I pretended to admire the ebony dragon with the glowing eyes as I heard the female giant mutter "'Ow do you know-" and "tell ze other students?"

"You know what?" I started, grabbing their attention. "I think I'm going to head back. Don't want to get **expelled** or anything."

I didn't stay to see her reaction, just walked as stealthy as I could to the Gryffindor tower so I could tell Harry what I saw.

Quickly after shouting "Balderdash!" to the Fat Lady, I rushed into the common room with the full intent of sneaking into the boy's dormitories.

But I didn't have to. Sneak up there, that is. He was here. In front of me, kneeling in front of the fireplace.

"Oh good, Harry! I have something to tell you." I whispered, kneeling next to him even though we were all alone.

"Yeah, I know." I gave him a sour expression, expecting to hear the exact opposite of that.

"You know?" I repeated, confused at his hurried tone. "I was there. I saw them."

I raised my eyebrows, reminding myself that he owned an invisibility cloak. "Well then, you know how cold it was out there." I stated, making sense of his position near the fireplace as I too scooted closer to the flames.

He had a look of worry on his face as I held my hands out in front of me. I raised a single brow before turning to the embers only to witness them expand and form the features of my father's face.

Harry and I both jumped at his appearance but trued to play it off like it didn't happen. "Oh, it's just you." I said relieved as my dad looked me in the eye.

"Just me? Surely you'd like to speak to your father?" I gave him one of those 'really?' looks before shaking my head. "Nah, but I'm sure Harry's got loads to tell you."

I ignored Harry's amused stare as I pat him on the shoulder before blowing dad a kiss and getting up and going up the stairs to the girl's dormitories.

Honestly, I already knew what they would be talking about, so it would be redundant to stay.

Once I got to the top of the steps, the door flew open to reveal Hermione in the doorway with her hand cocked and a green orb resting inside of it. "Is that a stinkbomb?" I asked, brushing past her to get to my bed.

After she closed the door, I caught a hint of pink in her cheeks before she practically burrowed herself into her sheets, choosing not to answer my question.

* * *

><p><strong>patattack:<strong> Thanks man.

**Megirl97:** Hey, that's actually quite a feat seeing as Adhara doesn't like very many people.


	16. Do Or Do Not

**Disclaimer: ME: Adhara, do I own Harry Potter?**

**Adhara: You CAN'T own my brother. I don't know why anyone would ever assume that. I'm just glad you're asking me this instead of Hermione. She would've blown her top!**

**Me: Yes, I know. I wrote about it for three chapters straight. O_O**

**A/N: I'm a horrible author, I know. But this one's action packed and kind of humorous. And since in the books, we never know how the Champions actually defeat their dragons, I made my own ideas come to life AND THEN checked on Harry Potter wiki and eerily enough, they're pretty damn close to the real thing which startles me. **

Earlier today, Harry had been missing from Herbology, something I felt obligated to investigate as I damn near ran through the entrance hall, only to be stopped by Corian.

"Adhara!" He waved me down with sheer enthusiasm and I just couldn't ignore him.

"Hi-" "You know, with all that we've looked up so far, I really believe that we can get started-" I held my hand up to interrupt his babbling, giving him an apologetic look as I spoke.

"I can't right now. I have slightly more pressing matters at hand." I chose not to acknowledge his disappointment as I continued my pursuit of Harry.

I performed a rather dramatic sigh when I found him walking my way on the stairs. "You skipping class without me? You know how much I hate Herbology."

We halted and he shook his head at me. "What? No. I was with Professor Moody." I frowned at that as we headed to Divination.

"What for?" I wondered aloud. "Somehow he knew that I knew about the dragons."

I eyed him curiously since he didn't elaborate. "And that's it?" "Well, no. He told me to play to my strengths."

I chuckled, fixing the bag on my shoulder as we finished the steps. "What're you going to do? Kill the dragon with your big innocent puppy dog eyes?" I laughed once more before getting out "Moody's a nutter I tell you!"

Harry glowered at me as we entered the hazy classroom. "No, flying." I made a face of understanding while he went on. "But I'm only allowed my wand."

I tapped my fingers on my chin as we took a seat at an empty table.

I took out my wand, pretending it was a lightsaber, making the noises and everything. Across the table, his eyes were fixed on me, hands facing the ceiling with his elbows on the edge and his mouth agape. "Are you even **listening** to me?"

I halted at his frustrated tone and rolled my eyes like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "Harry." I started, leaning over the table. "You're supposed to use the force. You know… the summoning charm." I sighed as I dumbed it down for him.

"Well then, I can't think of a better teacher." I nodded glad that he finally understood. "Wait, what?"

"Don't act dumb, Adhara. It doesn't suit you well." I shook my head, not knowing where he was going with this. "We all saw you do it to the Slytherins' pins the other day. Something I never got to properly thank you for."

His eyes were pleading as Trelawney finally made her way into the class, causing us to whisper. "You're welcome, but that was out of pure rage and you'll need to be doing this from a distance-"

I was partially trying to be honest and partially trying to stick to my goal of creating a distance of sorts between Harry and I.

But the task was tomorrow and I couldn't leave him defenseless like this. And besides, it would only be for a day. "Ok, Harry, but you must remember one thing. Do or do not-"

"There is no try." He finished for me. "Whenever the Dursley's went on vacation, Ms. Figg would let me watch them." He explained, tossing me his bottle of ink, motioning for me to hold it under the table.

We spent the rest of the period ignoring Trelawney and her babbling on about planets' alignment and how it endangered certain people born at the end of July and continued to practice. "Well, that's good. Just as long as its not drawn out. I don't want to suffer."

Someone snickered at that and I looked up to see Ron looking over with an amused expression. I gave him a dirty look from over Harry's shoulder, causing him to turn away.

"_Accio ink bottle_." Harry whispered with an angry tone, resulting in snatching the ink bottle from the palm of my hand.

After dinner, we practiced with Hermione in an empty classroom, having used the invisibility cloak to get there. And just when he was getting the hang of things, Peeves found us and started banging furniture about, causing us to relocate to the Common Room.

I don't remember much of what we did after that except leaving them to practice so I could get some sleep, advising Harry to do the same.

I woke up to screaming which was my least favorite way of being waken up, even less than choking on the rain because you sleep with your mouth open.

"You're still asleep! The first task is starting in a few minutes!" I stayed still hoping the maniac would realize they were in the wrong dormitories and leave, but instead I could hear them stomp closer and pull back the curtains to my bed.

I opened my eyes to see a slightly blurry image of my good friend Ginny Weasley standing above me shaking her red locks from side to side. "You are so lucky my brother noticed you weren't at breakfast."

I groaned as she tugged me from the warmth of my comfy bed. "But I'm in my jammies, my hair looks worse than Hermione's and I have morning breath." I mumbled, making my way to the bathroom but she grabbed me by my shoulders and steered me in the opposite direction and out the door.

"Then have a mint!" she demanded, slapping the candy in my hand as we ran through the portrait hole.

* * *

><p>Due to our tardiness, we had to take seats in the very back far from our friends. But at least we were just in time and got a good bird's eye view.<p>

Cedric Diggory had made his way out and he looked positively ill. But I had to give him praise because he fought through it and didn't let his fear get the best of him. "Oooh, narrow miss there, very narrow." Bagman announced as Diggory dodged being stomped by the Swedish Short-Snout and found safety behind a conveniently close boulder.

"He's taking risks this one!" Cedric was now peeking from behind the boulder to send sparks out to distract the dragon as he made his way over to it.

Too bad for him, the dragon wasn't falling for it. It sent flames towards the Hufflepuff seeker, causing him to seek refuge behind the same boulder. "**Clever** move- pity it didn't work!"

Cedric took a minute to compose himself and come up with his best plan yet. He transfigured a nearby rock into a splitting image of the golden egg. And without prompting, the dragon spotted it and struggled against its chains in an attempt to reach the fake egg.

Cedric took this as an opportunity to run behind the dragon and take the egg it seemed to have forgotten.

We all cheered as Cedric ran back in to the Champion's tent and the dragon tamers led the still angry Short-Snout back into its cage. "Very good indeed!" I didn't want him to win the tournament, but if Harry were to lose, I'd rather it be to him than the oaf or the French succubus.

"One down, three to go!" Speaking of the devil. "Miss Delacour, if you please!"

She entered the arena shaking like the right coward I'm sure she was, but despite her lack of composure, I was surprised to see her head held high.

The Welsh Green was oblivious to her entrance, choosing to survey its surroundings, probably trying to find a way out.

Without hesitation, Fleur performed _reducio_, shortening the chain of the Welsh Green which only agitated the creature. "Oh, I'm not sure that was wise!"

The dragon must've noticed that it had staggered away from its egg because its roars were so very desperate compared to before.

With a spell I wasn't so sure of the origin, Fleur conjured up some Fog to confuse the dragon even further, but it sort of backfired.

The way she was swinging her arms back and forth to clear the air, it was obvious she couldn't see any better than the dragon could.

Like a pendulum, the beast swung its head side to side, spewing flames in a semi circle, trying to locate its pseudo child. "Oh… nearly!" Luckily she could see the flames over the fog, or else she wouldn't have known to duck.

But after its stream of fire passed, she began to advance in the direction of where she last saw the egg. "Careful now…" Due to the light of the dragon's flame, it was apparent she could make out the egg's reflective exterior and continued to run straight to it.

I was sure she had it, but the Welsh Green's tail whipped out of nowhere and tripped the French witch, causing her face to meet the hard surface of a rock beneath her.

The dragon must've known it hit something because it channeled its scolding rage in Fleur's general direction. "Good lord. I thought she'd had it then!"

Quick on her feet, she allowed the waterfall of fire behind her to be her guiding light to her prize which was only a few feet in front of her.

Next up was the overrated Viktor Krum which only meant they were saving the best for last.

I could barely make out his thick accent, but judging by how the Chinese Fireball fell back and was hit by a very large explosion of sorts, that Krum performed a combination of _confringo_ and _depulso_.

And that was it.

The panel must've enjoyed his strategy as much as I did because they gave the teen celebrity a sub par score.

When it was Harry's turn, I noticed both Ginny and I scooting to the edge of our seats, ready for a mutual favorite to blow the rest out of the water. I'm sure if he kept to our plan, he would prove most efficient and original.

I cheered loudly for him as he made his way out, despite his quiet applause compared to the other champions.

He already looked defeated, only a few seconds into the task. I swear, if there was a way for me to trade places with him, I really would.

I saw him take a few deep breaths to compose himself before lifting his wand in the air, preparing to perform what we'd practiced all day yesterday.

"_Accio Firebolt_!" He yelled, pointing in the direction of the school.

There was an awkward pause that filled the stadium, half doubtful, half hopeful and completely suspenseful as we waited to see if the summoning charm worked.

I was the first to cheer at some rustling in the trees before the broom flew out and halted directly at Harry's side.

I could see the fear erased from his face as he mounted his Firebolt before taking off straight into the sky until he was merely a tiny speck.

The crowd went wind as he dove back down, maneuvering the broom with enough precision to dodge the flames of the Hungarian Horntail and prevent himself for hitting the ground within a matter of seconds.

"Great Scott, he can fly! Are you watching this, Mr. Krum?" I squealed at Bagman's insult and nudged Ginny in the arm, disrupting her applause. "I take back everything I've ever said about him."

Harry just finished circling above the dragon and now he was dodging its fire breathing, only to be nicked in the shoulder by the Horntail's tail.

He obviously learned his lesson, choosing to circle her from a distance. He flew slow enough for her to keep an eye on him, but fast enough to dodge her spit fire.

Eventually, I noticed a pattern in how he was taunting her, back and forth, higher and higher until he was completely out of her reach.

Luckily the dragon was so dead set on eating my brother as a treat, she flapped her massive ebony wings, hovering a few feet off the ground and allowing him to fly directly below her and snatch the golden egg from her stony nest.

"Look at that! Will you look at that! Our youngest Champion is quickest to get his egg! Well, this is going to shorten the odds on Mr. Potter!" I squeezed Ginny as the applause and chatter continued on as people were getting up to make their way back to their respective place of dwelling, whether it be a ship, carriage or a castle.

"I'm gonna go see Harry. I'll tell him you said congrats." She rose a vibrant brow and glanced down at my jammies. "You sure about that?"

I nodded and confidently waved her off. "Yeah, they're flannel. I won't be cold." I could hear her scoff as we parted ways, not exactly sure why.

Although I'm sure I wasn't allowed, I went in Madame Pomfrey's healing tent to see Harry sitting on a cot with a few rips in his shirt by the shoulder with no visible scars underneath.

"You've got some nerve, Harry. The Wrongski Feint? Right in front of Krum? You're well aware that he's going to be at your throat for the second task, right?" He nods, not really intimidated.

"Whatever puts a dent in his focus." I laugh, engulfing him in a strong congratulatory hug.

I would've squeezed him longer, but we were interrupted by Hermione and Ron entering the tent.

Stepping away from Harry, I looked at Ron expectantly until he broke the silence. "I came to congratulate Harry… and apologize."

I raise my eyebrows as they walked forward and when he still wasn't getting the hint, I cleared my throat. "Before that gets any worse, you might want to have Madame Pomfrey check that out."

Stunned by his rare wit and inability to give me an apology as well, I made my way out, tossing a glance over my shoulder to see all three of them hugging like there was never a problem between them.

Like they should always be.

As I made my way back to the castle barefoot, I found a part of myself wondering why I wasn't jealous and another part was grateful that Ron was back in the picture because it would make it easier for me to slip away again.

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><p><strong>patattack:<strong> That was contradictory and I really hope you liked the bit about Dragons in this chap as well.

**Megirl97:** That's true, but she could be better. I mean, I think she's an idiot for staying away from Harry, but she'll soon learn her lesson.


	17. She's Made Him Up

Disclaimer: No matter how much merch I own, I do not own the HP franchise.

**A/N: I know most of you have given up on this fic by now. The last few chapters were shit and it's taken me a while to update (I did have writer's block at first, but once that cleared up, my life just got hectic.), which is why for those of you that still remain, I am rewarding you with this long chapter.**

**Happy early birthday to me!**

**Also, if you guys want to see Adhara's dress for the Yule Ball, it's on my profile. I highly suggest you go look at it if you want to understand the climax of this chapter.**

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><p>Weeks had passed after the first task and it seemed that Corian had forgotten all about practicing wandless magic with me and got a bit flirtier if possible. Going to the lengths of putting his arm around me in the hall and pecking my cheek at every opportunity.<p>

It wasn't just him though. Everyone in the castle seemed to be under some sort of love spell with the whole Yule Ball around the corner. I was actually looking forward to it, but these weeks leading up to the actual event, not so much.

I had been asked to the ball more times than I could count; by Slytherins, Gryffindors, Durmstrang students, Ravenclaws and even one Hufflepuff. At least half of them had been staring at my boobs when they did, which made it easier to break the news that the Giant Squid asked me first.

But all of their efforts combined were no where near as entertaining as Ron asking out Fleur via yelling at her face.

My reaction was a combination of laughing and crying at the same time. I was still doing so as the herd of Gryffindors followed him up to the common room. I mean, what was that boy thinking? Someone as pompous as her would never even touch a Weasley!

Wiping the tears from my eyes, I too entered the common room just in time to see Hermione going to the girl's dorms. Ron and Harry were seated at their usual couch and Ginny was standing over them with her hands on her hips. "Right, this is getting stupid. Ginny, you can go with Harry and I'll settle for Adhara-"

"No!" I shouted as they all turned around, surprised at my presence.

"Why not? And don't give us that rubbish about the Giant Squid." I stomped over to Ron who was now leaning over the back of the couch with a snarky expression that I just wanted to slap off of his freckled face.

"Because I'm not that desperate and besides, I'm going with Corian." I said confidently even though I was lying through my teeth.

"Who?" Harry asked and Ron interrupted before I could answer. "She's made him up."

I rolled my eyes and gestured to Ginny that we should go upstairs before I exploded at her brother.

Buried deep under my sheets, hours after saying it, it hit me that I had dug myself into the trouble of actually having to ask the most intimidating boy I had ever met to the ball and all because of a rude, revolting redhead.

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><p>I'd been carrying around Canary Creams all day that the twins wanted me to test out. It was because no one trusted them anymore when it came to sweets, but no one knew that I was in on it too.<p>

The only problem was that I couldn't think of a proper guinea pig that wouldn't resent me afterwards.

And when a pair of arms were wrapped around me, I knew that my prayers had been answered.

This morning, I arranged to meet up with Corian on the 6th floor to ask him a very imperative question.

"Come on." I ordered, removing his arms from around me and started tugging on one of his silk sleeves trying to lead him to the astronomy tower.

"What?" He questioned as he stayed at the bottom of the narrow stairwell.

"I'll give you a piece of candy if you come with." I laughed while saying it, not believing that I had to resort to bribing him like a child.

"What kind of candy?" He asked, holding his hand out as he followed me up the steps. I rolled my eyes and dug into my pocket to get him one.

"Cream." I answered, slapping one into the large palm of his hand.

I ushered him into the tower, not wanting anyone to witness my embarrassment. I took a deep breath after closing the door behind us.

Slowly I turned, prepared to be shot down by my French friend.

I blinked plenty of times before my eyes finally accepted that Corian was indeed covered in feathers!

They were framing his face and I could even see a few sticking out of his robes. I couldn't help but to break out into laughter. I wasn't expecting him to eat it until I was through.

Luckily he was laughing too as I made my way over to him, cautiously resting my hands on his shoulders. "I am so sorry. Fred and Georg-" "Adhara, will you go to the ball with me?"

"Yes! I mean… sure." I recovered before he brazenly pulled me in for a kiss. I quickly pulled away, not expecting for him to do that.

I gave a relieved sigh before saying, "Let's get you to the Hospital Wing."

* * *

><p>"Congrats on Corian asking you to the ball." Hermione said as she stepped in stride with me on the way up to the common room.<p>

"Thanks! Hey, you never told me who you're going with." She opened her mouth, but I stopped her before she could lie to me. "And don't tell me you're not going with anyone because I have never seen you this smitten." That got her to blush before finally giving in.

"Alright… Viktor Krum asked me." I'm sure I looked ridiculous with my mouth wide open and my eyebrows attempting to reach my hairline. "And you accepted?" I couldn't decide to think of her as brave or delusional.

"Everyone can't be as gorgeous and charming as Corian, ok?" I changed my demeanor, not wanting her to feel offended. "It's not that, Hermione. He's just a bit of a brute." She smirked in agreement.

"Yes, but I'm willing to give him a chance." If any girl was open minded when it came to boys, it was Hermione.

"Ok, but the moment he tries to pull something with you because of his celebrity, let me know because I'll have my wand in my cleavage all night." She laughed and I'm sure she thought I was joking, but seriously, ever since my breasts have grown, I've been using the space between them to store many things, wand included.

"There's no need." I smiled at her as we followed our fellow Gryffindors into the common room. "Always the optimist."

Quickly she turned, grabbing me by the forearms, forcing me to stop. "Speaking of optimism… will you do my hair for the ball?"

My eyes bulged and I stopped breathing at her question. Has she looked in the mirror recently? It would be like trying to turn a bird's nest into the fine smooth bristles of a Nimbus 2001. Maybe it could be possible with some research of Witch Weekly and a trip to the cosmetic area of Hogsmeade that I never visited.

"Uh… sure." I finally exhaled, hoping I hadn't bitten off more than I could chew.

* * *

><p>After buying a load of Sleekeazy's Hair Potion and a few hours of application and styling, I was swelling with pride as I watched Hermione walk down the steps into the Entrance Hall.<p>

The best reward of all was watching everyone's reactions to Hermione's transformation. Parvati was in awe, Harry was speechless and Krum was absolutely impressed. All of their reactions would probably become a blur in my memory, but Draco's I was committing to memory.

I could tell that Pansy was brimming with envy because Draco of all people couldn't take his eyes off the muggleborn. I don't even think I saw him blink!

I walked down after her, which was awesome because barely anyone looked at me, their eyes still too glued to Hermione.

I, myself didn't spend too much time on my own image. With the time I did have after taming Hermione's mane, I spent pressing my curls, squeezing into my dress and dabbing on a tad of make up. And despite my minimal efforts, Corian still looked at me as if I were an angel.

"I was going to come down the steps in a giant pink bubble, but McGonagall shot the idea down immediately." My reference made him snicker before extending his arm out for me to take so he could lead me into the Great Hall.

"You look amazing, Adhara." He whispered to me and I smirked at him, reaching up to touch his blue bowtie. "As do you."

Walking in, I was flabbergasted with the decorations. The enchanted ceiling was snowing with giant ice stalactites hanging from it. I had to hold back a shiver at the cold atmosphere, but despite that, I will admit that I enjoyed the Great Hall tonight. Not as much as I did on Halloween, but the frosty evergreens and the icy translucent dance floor were nice touches.

I was so glad that Corian led us over to share a table with Neville and Ginny. That means he was actually listening when I talked about my friends. "Corian, this is Neville and Ginny. Neville and Ginny, this is Corian." They both waved politely as we sat down and Corian smiled at the couple.  
>"Your date's quite handsome." Ginny stated, not even trying to whisper about it. "So is yours." I admitted before taking a sip of my water. Putting it down, I couldn't help but to smile at Neville's blushing.<p>

I wasn't just saying it to be nice either. The boy had gotten taller which had distributed his weight more equally because I can't even believe that just a year ago, he was that clumsy chubby kid that tried to squish me on the train.

"My brother said you weren't real, you know. If he sees you two on the dance floor, he'll look like he's seen a ghost." Everyone around us began to stand and quickly we followed suit, trying to follow the ancient customs.

"He'll be fine as long as he says his animagus form is the Giant Squid." I whispered to Ginny as the champions and their dates spread out on the dance floor.

"Which brother?" I nudged Corian in the ribs as I tried to enjoy Harry dancing. But he was right. Ginny referring to 'her brother' was as useful as Blaise Zabini referring to 'his stepfather'.

When the champions were done, we applauded before joining them on the dance floor. Luckily, the next song was a fast paced Weird Sisters song which pretty much turned the place into a mosh pit.

Fred and Angelina looked absolutely mad, flailing their limbs about as if they were trying to get rid of them. But an even more startling sight was a blonde in a royal blue gown and her date appeared like they were having choreographed synchronized seizures.

When the song switched to a slow one, Fred cut in leaving Corian to dance with Angelina. And while dancing with Fred, I couldn't help but notice him glaring over my shoulder at Bagman. "Please don't tell me I have to work tonight." I pleaded.

"No, you look too gorgeous. Just enjoy yourself, but if Frenchy gets too handsy…" He made the hand gesture of sitting one's throat and before passing me back to Corian, he took one long look at my breasts causing me to crack up.

The next song was a slow song too, but this time, I was finally in Corian's arms. With my head on his chest and his chin on my head, together we found entertainment in discreetly watching Neville try his hardest not to step on Ginny's toes. "He reminds me so much of my brother." I nodded at the mention of my old best friend. "I know."

A bit later, we finally got off the floor and treated ourselves to shrimp cocktail as I tried my hardest not to act like I was starving.

Once I'd lost count of how many of the chilled scavengers I'd consumed, Corian had again extended his arm out to me and I took it, assuming that he was going to introduce me to someone, but found myself surprised when I noticed he was taking us back to the table that now had a full plate of food in front of each seat.

"But I don't want to burst out of my dress." I confessed, placing a hand to my slightly chubby waist which was pressing against my unbelievably tight dress. I'd been taking shallow breaths all night.

"I believe all the guys here are hoping for that exact thing." I laughed at his perverted statement and took a seat in the chair he pulled out for me and together we stuffed our faces with the most delicious mashed potatoes and roast beef we had ever eaten.

Not appearing content that we just had glasses of water in front of us, Corian said, "Allow me to get us some punch." I silently nodded to him as he got up, not wanting to reveal the food in my mouth.

"You know, pouffiasse, zat dress really suits you." Quickly I swallowed my food, not expecting anyone in their right mind to insult me tonight. "Especially with ze color and all."

I turned around, glaring daggers into her putrid face. "Shut your filthy mouth, Ameile."

"Oh, zat's right. You don't want anyone to know you're ze daughter of a murderer correct? But I must do you a favor and tell you zat you are not fooling anyone." She even had the balls to feign apathy causing my hands to tighten on the back of my chair.

"But zat's not the most pathetic thing about you." She scoffed snootily before continuing. "I mean, your father isn't ze only thing people feel sorry for. Ve all know you are not ze prettiest girl in 'ogwarts, but I was 'oping you would at least get a real date." I looked at the bitch like she was insane.

"I do have a real date." I said confidently, looking over at Corian who was heading back with our drinks, but Ameile just laughed. "Oh, zis just keeps getting better and better! I can't believe 'e never told you."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded, my eyes flickering from her to Corian. "Let's just say zat you don't ever have to worry about 'im ever taking advantage of you. No matter 'ow much you doll yourself up."

Although now mentally numb, I felt her pinch my cheek before walking off with her friends and to their respective dates.

Quickly I stood up and took the two goblets from a statuesque Corian and set them on the table. "Do you have an ounce of knowledge of what she was mouthing off about?"

He waited a while to respond, our peers around us failing to have the decency to appear uninterested. "Adhara, Ameile is…" Hesitation spawns lies.

"Corian-" "She's just trying to ruin your night-" "Corian." "She- she's probably just jealous. It's never stopped her before!" He stammered.

If this was some sort of sick dare or if it turns out that he was secretly dating that human equivalent of a blank sheet of parchment, or anyone else for that matter, I was going to lose my shit.

Noticing he was on edge, I pulled him to the side and away from the crowd. "You listen here, now. You kissed me. You asked me to the Yule Ball. You don't have to baby me, Corian. I know how to take no for an answer."

His eyes were watery and he refused to look me in the eye. "I should've known! I mean, look at you with your dimples, strong cheekbones and tall stature…" I sighed trying to maintain my composure. "I don't give a damn about being romanced. Honesty is much more valuable."

And with that, I walked off, but I didn't get very far seeing as how Corian had a firm grasp on my forearm. "You let go of m-" "I'm gay."

Not really knowing how to respond or even believe him for that matter, "Could've fooled me." I spat, making my way making my way out of the hall, absolutely set on having a good cry.

But on the first set of steps, I spotted Hermione sitting on them, sobbing. The very same steps she descended hours ago, giving me a bright grateful buck toothed smile over her shoulder once she hit the bottom.

How had our lives changed so drastically in such a short period of time?

Without a single word, I held my hand out to the prettiest girl at the ball and we headed up to the Gryffindor tower having very little hope for the vast species of human known as teenage boy.

Not that we had much hope to start out with.

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><p>Now if you didn't read my AN at the top, then you wouldn't know what Adhara's dress looks like, FYI.

Megirl97: I think this story is the worst of Ron's jerkiness towards her since they'll have bigger problems than each other in the next installments.

patattack: Thank you kind sir!

WeasleyDragon96: Interesting guesses. No, no. Ranting is welcomed here. I thought that joke was hilarious too! I didn't catch it the first time, that's why I put it in here. You have got to be the nicest new reviewer I have ever gotten. And don't feel sorry for constantly reviewing. Do it as much as you please!


	18. Moral Fiber

Disclaimer: Don't own it, but why does it even matter since everyone's stopped reading anyway?

**A/N: You may notice that Adhara doesn't talk much in a section of this chapter, but if you're smart, you'll realize it's because of the topic they're discussing, not because I'm a lazy writer. **

**Also, Sirius in the next chapter.**

Ever since the whole Yule Ball incident with Corian, I've had a lot of free time and allowed myself to be dragged back into the company of the Golden Trio.

Harry and I were sitting in the common room, half studying about comets when I spoke up. "Please tell me you've solved the whole egg thing out."

He shook his mop of a head. "Not exactly." He answered, handing me a slip of paper with writing on it.

"_Come seek us where our voices sound_

_We cannot sing above the ground_

_And while you're searching, ponder this:_

_We've taken what you'll sorely miss_

_An hour long you'll have to look_

_And to recover what we took_

_But past an hour- the proposal's black_

_Too late, it's gone, it won't come back."_

"Are you sure that's what it said? What did you even do to get this?" I asked after reading the eerie riddle.

"Cedric told me. And I wrote it all down right after nearly getting caught by Snape." He answered.

"Harry, you-" "Moody was there too. In Snape's office." I scoffed at my foolish friend.

"Well of course you were almost caught lurking around a Professor's office, **after hours**. Have I taught you nothing?" He gave me a look before continuing his story.

"I saw Barty Crouch on the map." My jaw fluctuated, trying to find the proper words to say. "Moody said he must've been looking for potion ingredients."

"Really? Let's have a look, shall we?" I suggested, hoping Crouch would be stupid enough to attempt theft again, the next night.

"I don't have it." I blinked in confusion at Harry's words. "Come again?"

"The map; Moody took it." I held my hand out between us and sat up straighter. "HOW did he take it? I thought you had your cloak with you?" It took a lot out of me not to yell at him.

"His eye, he could see right through it. But he waited until Snape left to say anything." I sighed heavily, absolutely loathing the fact that Harry trusted Moody enough to give away **our **map. I didn't trust that Quasimodo wannabe in the slightest.

I handed Harry back his riddle and said, "I hope you can swim."

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><p>To be honest, I felt helpless in aiding Harry in his second task, so I felt that the least I could do was help him, Hermione and Ron do some research for it.<p>

"I don't reckon it can be done. There's nothing. **Nothing**. Closest was that thing Adhara found to dry up puddles and ponds, that Drought Charm, but that was nowhere near powerful enough to drain the entire lake." Oh how bittersweet that was. Ron uncharacteristically giving me credit for something, yet it wasn't good enough to help Harry.

"There must be something. They'd never have set a task that was undoable." Hermione responded, her voice laced with sleep.

"They have. Harry, just go down to the lake tomorrow night, stick your head in, yell at the me people to give back whatever they've nicked, and see if they chuck it out. Best you can do mate." I did my best at covering up my laughter.

"I know what I should've done… I should've learned to be an animagus like Sirius." I made a face at Harry's suggestion as Ron chimed in.

"Yeah, you could've turned into a goldfish anytime you wanted!" "Or a frog." Harry replied.

"It takes years to become an Animagus, and then you have to register yourself and everything." I squinted my eyes at Hermione, wondering how she knew all this.

"Professor McGonagall told us, remember… You've got to register yourself with the Improper Use of Magic Office-" "Hermione, I was joking. I know I haven't got a chance of turning into a frog by tomorrow morning." Silence fell upon our quartet after Harry's declaration.

"Oh, this is no use." Hermione whined, skimming over one of the many books on our table. "Who on earth wants to make their nose hair grow into ringlets?"

"I wouldn't mind." voiced Fred as he and his twin seemed to appear out of the dark shadows of the library. "Be a talking point, wouldn't it?"

"What're you two doing here?" Ron asked his brothers. "McGonagall wants Hermione and Adhara."

"Are we in trouble?" I wondered aloud.

"Dunno… she was looking a bit grim, though." Fred answered me. "We're supposed to take you down to her office."

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><p>The last thing I remember was McGonagall's stern face and now I am waking up to cheering and I was soaking wet.<p>

My eyes jolted open when I felt a pair of arms around my neck. I looked behind me tosee Fleur's sister clinging to my back.

After turning back around, I could see my brother emerging from the dark waters of the black lake as well. I smiled at him and together we made it back to the platform as quickly as we could.

Once there, I could hear Fleur's panicked voice calling out to her sister. "Gabrielle! Gabrielle! Is she alive? Is she 'urt?"

Pulling myself onto the platform, I tried to answer her, but she just snatched her sister off my back and into a blanket.

Next to me, Madame Pomfrey was rushing to supple Harry with one. It wasn't until I shivered that Hermione came over to share hers with me. "Harry, well done! You did it and you found out how to do it all by yourself!"

That's right. Before the twins took us to McGonagall, we were trying to help Harry figure out how to breathe underwater.

"Thank you, Harry." I got out through chattering teeth.

After congratulating him, Hermione had stepped aside to talk to her boy toy, Krum, taking the blanket with her.

Finally, after tending to everyone else, Madame Pomfrey finally noticed me and gave me a blanket and a vial of pepperup potion. And after all this time, waiting on the dock for deliberation, Fleur finally stopped cradling her sister for a moment and made her way over to us.

"You saved 'er. Even though she was not your 'ostage." So let me get this right. Fleur has to save her sister while Cedric and Krum got their significant others? I didn't want to know which role they thought I played in Harry's life.

I snapped out of my thoughts just as Fleur let go of Harry and began her attack of affection on me. "And you too. You 'elped." I frowned as she pecked my cheeks, but I couldn't be upset. I was glad one French person liked me.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, we have reached our decision." Bagman announced. "Mercheiftainess Murcus has told us exactly what happened at the bottom of the lake and we have therefore decided to award marks out of 50 for each of the champions, as follows… Fleur Delacour, though she demonstrated excellent use of the Bubble-Head Charm, was attacked by Grindylows as she approached her goal and failed to retrieve her hostage. We award her 25 points." Not wanting to be rude, I clapped for the girl who had finally released me from her bear hug.

"I deserve zero." Hearing that, I felt obliged to rub her back and let her rest her head on my shoulder as Bagman went on.

"Cedric Diggory, who also used the Bubble-Head Charm, was first to return with his hostage, though he returned one minute outside the time limit of an hour. We therefore award him 47 points." The Hufflepuffs clapped vigorously for their pride and joy.

"Viktor Krum used an incomplete form of Transfiguration, which was nevertheless effective, and was second to return with his hostage. We award him 40 points." If saving Fleur's sister was going to cost Harry points, I was seriously going to hex the hell out of him once we got back to the tower.

"Harry Potter used Gillyweed to great effect. He returned last, and well outside of the time limit of an hour. However, the Mercheiftainess informs us that Mr. Potter was first to reach the hostages, and that the delay in his return was due to his determination to return all hostages to safety, not merely his own. Most of the judges-" Bagman paused to glare at Kakaroff. "feel that this shows moral fiber and merits full marks. However… Mr. Potter's score is 45 points."

If my calculations are correct, Harry was now tied with Diggory for first place. "Holy shit!" I exclaimed over the wild cheering.

Not caring about what people thought for once, I approached Harry with open arms. "My hero!" I cried in a typical dramatic damsel voice before throwing my arms around him.

"The third and final task will take place at the dusk of the 24th of June." 2 days before my birthday. What a treat. "The champions will be notified of what is coming precisely one month beforehand. Thank you all for your support of the champions."

So far so good. 2/3 through the competition and the only injuries Harry received so far were a deep gash on his shoulder and a mouth full of water. I think it was safe to relax for the first time all term.

* * *

><p>And by relax, I of course meant finally breaking out those shot glasses I stole from the Dursleys at the beginning of the summer.<p>

As the Weasley twins were filling them up, I took a moment to sit down with Harry after his big win, Hermione and Ron joining us by the fireplace. The rest of the common room celebrating around us.

Hermione eyed the little glass cups before turning to me. "You think you would've learned from last year."

I waved a hand at her, before kicking my feet up on a chair. "I have it on good authority that McGonagall is too busy planning with the other judges back in the Great Hall. Besides, Gryffindor courage comes from fire whiskey and Harry has to be brave if he wants to kick that male model's butt next task."

Ron gave me a confused look. "But that's 4 months away."

I gave him a glare as his brothers set the tiny cups in front of us. "How do you feel about a 4 month drinking binge, Harry?" He laughed at my joke, picking up the glass in front of him that had the Eiffel tower on it.

"Absolutely not!" Hermione interfered, obviously not catching that I wasn't serious.

"I respect your decision to remain dry tonight, so I hope you don't mind-" "I never said that." She said, snatching her shot away before I could grab it.

I looked around, making sure everyone had something to drink in their hands before yelling "To Harry!"

"To Harry!" They all repeated before taking a sip and going back to their previous shenanigans.

I smirked at Hermione's face after she downed her shot before setting my attention to my left. "Harry, you never told us how exactly you got the Gillyweed. Especially now since you're mapless and all."

He put his glass on the table before telling us, "Dobby gave it to me. Right before the task."

I shared a confused look with Hermione before she spoke up, still grimacing from the alcohol. "And how'd he get it? It's not a common plant, Harry."

I agreed, it did seem oddly convenient, but all Harry could do was shrug. "Must've taken it from Snape's office. I do remember him complaining about missing ingredients."

Hermione shook her head, always ready to defend House Elves. "I don't think he took it, Harry."

"No offense, Hermione, but how does a House Elf know more about herbology than all of us combined? I'm sure none of us had even heard of it before today." I snapped.

"Why does it matter?" Ron interrupted our squabbling. "Harry saved you and now he's tied for first place. You should be happy."

Miffed, I walked off to stuff my face with cheesecake the twins got from the kitchen. The whole gillyweed situation just seemed too perfect to me, a person who didn't believe in luck. And I always was up for investigating a mystery, or maybe that was the Gryffindor courage speaking for me.

* * *

><p><strong>patattack<strong>: For two breakups in one story, I think she's holding up pretty well

**Megirl97**: No, you're twisting my words around. You might want to reread what I said.


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